I have a confession to make: I like George W. Bush, always have.
Mr. Bush is a good man. He is faithful to his wife, and devoted to his children, his family. His daughters have often taken beatings from the tabloids and not so tabloid Slate, but they have turned out all right. In fact, even the Slate piece inadvertently underscores the rarely acknowledged point that they have shown at least as much, if not far more, inclination towards public service than better regarded presidential offspring. He has had issues with his dad; but then, who hasn't?
He is also good to his friends, from the 'hood, as it were. He still hangs out with his buddies from the early days, and they have tended to stick with him too. No celebrity chaser he. All that is a good sign. And he does not seem to see color, if his cabinet choices are any indication.
He is a born-again Christian. But although I am not a religious person myself, I won't hold his religiosity against him. Thank God he is not a follower of one of those natty, apocalyptic, money-grubbing televangelists. Despite his beliefs, or perhaps because of them, he has one of the gayest administrations that I am aware of. Strong beliefs, and an accepting outlook: I like that.
All in all, a family man in good standing, commanding the allegiance of long-standing friends, God-loving, yet inclusive: what more can you ask for in a next-door neighbor?
On the other hand, Americans, would you want your next-door neighbor to be president? Because that is what you, Americans, chose, and that is what he remains. The unchanging, unchangeable, Somebody-up-there-helped-me-win-this-game America; that is the one that took you to Iraq, and looks to keep you there.
I also like Richard M. Nixon. But that's another story.
2 comments:
As Chalmers Johnson (and lots of others, just dropping his name for no reason) has pointed out, at least until January 2005 Americans could claim that what the bush admin did was undertaken by a man who lost the popular vote. But now he's their guy.
Bush gets clobbered in debates and wins them, because that's exactly what Americans want. A guy who speaks from the gut, not a guy who studies a lot and knows sumthin' about statistics from books. Makes me wonder who Rove is putting together for '08.
Rove, Rove, Rove... Now where did I hear that name before? Let's see, Rumsfeld is the one that got fired... Is he the guy in the witness protection program? No, that's Sammy Gravano...
Seriously, isn't it amazing how he's gone completely off the radar screen? That way, you know you are in the No Spin Zone. Or Twilight Zone.
I wonder if I've written about the importance of likeability to public figures somewhere. I believe to this day that if either Al Gore or John Kerry had a little bit more of this right stuff, and, more importantly, been able to project it through the media, you guys would have had a different president.
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By the way, I like Nixon for more or less the same reason I like Bush. I know that's not always the best way to choose someone to run things (I've worked for some real jerks for whom I nevertheless had enormous respect professionally), but it seems to be hardwired into our brains. I dare evolutionary biologists to come up with a good explanation for this. (Related question: Why did the lemmings jump off the cliff?)
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