Regards, Ivan
Posted on 01/27/2003 3:25:22 PM PST by MadIvan
As he edlivers the State of the Union, don't belittle the state of the President
There is an anecdote in the most recent book about the Bush White House which neatly captures how Europeans misjudge the President, and why they are wrong to do so. Written by a former speechwriter, David Frum, it tells of Bush’s style in editing proposed drafts of speeches. In one of his early efforts, Frum included the phrase: “I’ve seen with my own eyes ...” The words “with my own eyes” were circled, and a teenage “DUH” added in presidential scrawl alongside.
For the man whose idea of a good film is anything involving Austin Powers, and whose favoured food is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, to be revealed communicating with his staff in dumbed-down monosyllables simply burnishes the image of an ill-deserving fool in the White House. But Bush’s correction, ironically in the field of linguistics in which he so often flunks verbally, in fact demonstrates a clear-headed, sharp-witted leader that Europeans either do not see or are unwilling to credit.
It is striking that people in the UK remain surprised that the US President is far from the accidental dimwit he was taken for in 2000, and that his sweeping domestic dominance is no lucky break, but forged by formidable political gifts, a laser-like reading of domestic issues and a skilfully crafted communicating style.
At the halfway stage of his first term, as he prepares to deliver a pivotal State of the Union address today, Bush’s outlook may appear more uncertain than at any time since the middle of September 2001. His approval ratings are slipping, down to a mortal 54 per cent from the commanding 70s of recent months. Less than half are happy with his handling of the economy. His proposed $674 billion tax cut is criticised on both sides. American unease over Iraq is strengthening. A series of flourishing gestures to the conservative Right is threatening to alienate swing votes.
These flashing lights have started to embolden the jostling Democratic presidential hopefuls. But nothing would delight the Bushies more than if the opposition started to fancy its chances. Bush has carved out a highly successful career from being underestimated. He wasn’t meant to win election to the Texas Governor’s mansion in 1994, nor the White House in 2000. Nor was he supposed to overturn history and lead the Republicans to victory in November’s congressional elections. Bush has faced an electorate four times, and emerged victorious on each occasion.
He entered the Oval Office a supposed political cripple, but proceeded to push through the most audacious tax cut since Reagan. He was supposedly wounded by last year’s US corporate scandals and the focus on his own executive shenanigans as a Texan oilman, but pulled away from both unscathed.
One of the most intriguing questions about the President is whether it is by accident or design that he lulls opponents into believing their own propaganda about him. One of his former classmates told Frum that “as a boy, he always used his intelligence to hide his intelligence. And he’s still doing it.”
Bush does not have a large ego, or has learnt how to hide that too. He did not rush to greet the returning American airmen held hostage by China in 2001. Such decisions are political calculations, but well camouflaged, and American voters are not yet cynical of his motives.
He has also won time and trust by appearing comfortable with his religion, his outlook and his skin in a way that voters find genuine and reassuring. His speech patterns are plain. He avoids minutiae and is poor on details, but sticks to a bold, broad canvas with which voters can identify.
His direct charm, which works better among American audiences and is often over-looked by the time his bullying rhetoric reaches Europe, is also a key part of his political armoury. One of the many lessons he learnt from his father’s 1992 defeat was to keep his cool, after the first President Bush damaged himself by ending the campaign calling Clinton and Al Gore “those two bozos”. In the 1994 Texas Governor’s race, his opponent Ann Richards bombarded him with what was supposed to be cutting invective, calling him “Junior”, “clueless”, and “the anaemic link at the tail end of the gilded Bush dynasty”. He called her “Governor Richards”, and won by six points.
Bush’s signature foreign policy has been rendered incoherent by North Korea, which has shown the limits to threats of pre-emption, but his domestic success is down to sharp, gut instinct. He knows when to take a stand, as shown by his knifing of Trent Lott, whose racist gaffe cost him the Senate leadership, and how to stroke the social traditionalists while mouthing his message of inclusiveness to swing voters.
He knows when to compromise, and when to be shameless, abandoning his opposition to the creation of a Homeland Security Department, stealing the Democrat idea and championing it as his own. And he is also a smart strategist. Much of his disputed tax plan may benefit the richest 1 per cent, but 19 per cent of Americans believe they are in that 1 per cent, and a further 20 per cent expect to be one day. In other words, nearly 40 per cent of Americans think they have a direct interest in Bush’s fiscal values, regardless of what the details look like once they have emerged from the Senate.
For the moment, Bush is facing renewed doubts. His boldness with Iraq and the US economy — now facing a $300 billion deficit — may prove dangerously reckless. But even if they do, Bush has already established a level of trust with his public that could survive even such serious setbacks, a strength the British public fails to see. The odds are that, once again, the US President, to use his own words, will have been “misunderestimated”.
The author is Washington bureau chief of The Times
Regards, Ivan
The truth hurts.
Yep, I reckon he is.
Ahem...that's misunderestimated.
Regards, Ivan"
yes, us do.
In the 1994 Texas Governor’s race, his opponent Ann Richards bombarded him with what was supposed to be cutting invective, calling him “Junior”, “clueless”, and “the anaemic link at the tail end of the gilded Bush dynasty”. He called her “Governor Richards”, and won by six points.
Ma has tried to explain to the democrats that President Bush is more apt to sit back and let you make a fool of yourself but they've yet to hear her. And so it goes..........
I hope any future endeavor is not so marred!!
Further, I agree GW is displaying an almost Lincoln-esque sense of purpose, the elitists will never get it!!
Hiding He's bright under a bushel basket?
Think for a minute, you'll get it!!
Although thread hopping may produce better results!!
Nevermind!!
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