[DJ MacWoW]

I agree that Bush wasn’t an orator. The press hated Reagan too but he was a speaker. I still think that Bush needed to be out there more. Maybe better speech writers would have helped, I don’t know. I do know that his “Uniter not a divider” hurt him. Bush expected co-operation even after it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. He was too NICE.

[caseinpoint]

I’ll agree with that assessment. Bush expected people to be as honorable as was he. It usually doesn’t work that way. Nevertheless, I think his presidency will fare well in the history books, a couple generations from now.

[Freee-dame]

If you read the daily FR thread "One Day In the Life" you would know that most weeks Pres. Bush gave 2 or 3 speeches away from the White House, had a press availablility with 2-4 foreign heads of state and had 2-4 photo ops with sports teams, community leaders, etc. The press and C-Span simply failed to cover most of them. If, however, he made a slight grammar or pronounciation error, they found time to play it over and over.

After 8 summers of his delightful T-ball games on the WH lawn, a conservative friend of mine did not even know about them.