What horse crap. My wife and I watched fascinated at the small talk captured by the live feed following the President as he left the chamber after the SOTU speech. He was so articulate, witty and charming. We wished out loud he would do that at his press conferences. He must be So self-conscious that any misstep will be pounced on by the drive-by media.
Thats what I have always thought. President Bush is just very self-conscious in front of the cameras. He sort of freezes up and cannot articulate as well as he does without the cameras.
A friend of mine told me about a friend of his, a writer who had written the authorized biography of someone famous. Both the writer and his subject were invited to the White House. Writer is a through-and-through liberal and confirmed Bush-hater, but when he actually met the man, he found him to be articulate, informed and completely charming. He found himself struggling to keep disliking him like he was supposed to.
In the end, he didn't change his political beliefs, but his opinion of the President had completely changed.
Short version: a great speaker he ain't, but one-on-one or in a small group...