“but for some reason went squish as a POTUS candidate.”
IMO, he let the advisors tell him what to say, and more importantly, NOT SAY. In the world of today, the Mainstream Media, as evidenced by last Night’s EMMY’s, is a direct enemy, and they must be treated like it.
Playing nice and being too cautious doesn’t cut it. The left are cut throat. President Bush squeaked by with being Mr. Nice Guy, but the world has grown condiderably more ugly since he was in office...and it was very ugly back then.