Much of winning public approval is how one uses the media. There is an art to being believable on TV.
The key is to appear to be genuine... to be yourself. The perfectly glib speaker is thought to be a con artist. The public will not relate. A leader must be at ease. He can not be seen as spouting platitudes. He must convince the Audience he believes what he says. Bush like Reagan comes across as a man who can be believed.
I watched Kerry in front of an audience preaching to them in a loud monotone. A stilted self important speech is the way Kerry appeared on TV. Kerry was playing to his live audience. He has learned nothing from Howard Dean. It is a bad mistake.
Notice Bush in a live speech before a big audience. Bush always plays to the TV cameras. Never to the live audience. Bush evokes no Deaniac crowd reaction. He evokes the one on one reaction demanded to be believable on Radio and TV. Rove knows the game...and so does Bush. Kerry is a self important fool who knows it all.. when he knows next to nothing.
Kerry is totally unskilled in the art of Radio and TV. He comes across as a pompous fool.
I used to teach announcing. I used Ed McMahon as an example of how to do it right. Some of my students used to debate me... McMahon is nothing they would say.. he just sounds and looks like an ordinary guy. I used to answer ... "It does not look like much. But if you want to make it big in the business, you will need to learn how to do exactly that...". "If you are outstanding talent you can learn be totally natural on the air. I shouldn't take much more than 10 years." An at ease naturally appearing man can sell soap. He can also sell voters. A self important man, can't sell 50 dollar bills for 25 cents. Kerry is so self important.. so eager to present what he sees are his assets. It is the act of a man who will not listen to people who know.
Bush has mastered being totally natural.. at ease in his own skin. Reagan was totally natural too. They are different men... but both Bush and Reagan are totally natural on TV.
Kerry can not be natural. He just says what he thinks his audience wants to hear. He has a tin ear and a strutting presentation. IT is the quintessential NO SALE!
Conclusion" Bush is as natural in his own skin as was Reagan. Kerry is as phony as Gore.
There is no media spin that can fix that.
Exactly what we all saw in the debates between GWB & Gore.....W won every debate by being himself.....even the media picked up on Gore's pompous attempts to re-invent himself with each debate.