It's all about the rug
posted by Liberal Eagle at 12:26 PM
As Seagull noted, Bush has been making a lot of appearances lately at high schools; in fact, was making one yesterday as Gonzales was imploding in front of Congress, in which he seemed interested, above all, in talking about the rug he has in his office:
And later:
Oh, good, see, it doesn't matter that Bush has no plan, and a real problem telling the truth even to himself, and won't admit he's gotten himself in way over his head: he's optimistic. Just look at his rug.
Frankly, George W. Bush, unscripted, is a train wreck. Scripted, I've always found him robotic, like he's reading the teleprompter phoenetically. (In National Review Online, T.J. Walker, in an apparently unironic attempt to praise Bush, once declared "Whether you love or loathe George W. Bush, you cannot deny that he has learned how to read a teleprompter.")
And I've just never bought the usual excuse that, okay, he's not a great public speaker, but that doesn't really affect his ability to run the country. That isn't necessarily true. The way someone speaks unscripted says a lot about the state of his or her mind. And Bush doesn't just mispronounce words occasionally. He says things that demonstrate a fundamental failure to understand the subject, like "interballistic missiles." He invariably talks to audiences of adults like he's addressing a group of kindergartners, demonstrating, I think, an authoritarian streak a mile wide. And he cannot stay on message or focus on anything genuinely complex or serious. Talking endlessly about the symbolic significance of your rug during an alleged speech about the "War on Terror" is, to me, a sign of an unserious, disorganized mind.
Of course I am not privy to the inner workings of the white house. But, come on, making an appearance at a high school during Gonzales's testimony seems like a laughable attempt to distract people. And, the fact that Bush looked so totally unprepared suggests that it was a last-minute thing. Then again, Gonzales had weeks to prepare and still looked like a kid who hasn't done the reading and gets called on in class. So maybe Bush did prepare. I don't know which would reflect on them more negatively.
But that's what has always struck me about this administration. They're comically bad at everything--including manipulating the public and the media. And yet, somehow, for years everyone in the press agreed to play along with it. Karl Rove isn't actually a genius, it's just that he's been thrown slow pitches over the heart of the plate for years. I think what history is going to wonder most about this era is how the political equivalent of "your shoe's untied" and "hey, look behind you" worked for these people for so long.
"My job is a job to make decisions. I'm a decision -- if the job description were, 'What do you do?' -- it's decision-maker. And I make a lot of big ones, and I make a lot of little ones. Interestingly enough, the first decision I made happened right before I got sworn in as president. I was at the Blair House, which is across the street from the White House, getting ready to give my inaugural address. And the phone rang, and the head usher at the White House said, 'President-elect Bush.' I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'What color rug do you want in the Oval Office?' I said, 'This is going to be a decision-making experience. The first lesson about decision-making is, if you're short on a subject, ask for help. So if you're a student listening and you're not very good at math, ask for help. Don't be afraid to admit that you need help when it comes to life. I wasn't afraid to admit I wasn't sure how to design a rug, so I called Laura. I said, 'They've asked me to design a rug in the Oval Office; I don't know anything about rug designing; will you help me?' She said, 'Of course.' But I said, 'I want it to say something' -- the president has got to be a strategic thinker -- and I said to her, 'Make sure the rug says 'optimistic person comes to work.' Because you can't make decisions unless you're optimistic that the decisions you make will lead to a better tomorrow.'"
And later:
"The goal [for Iraq] is a country that is stable enough for the government to work, that can defend itself and serve as an ally in this war on terror, that won't be a safe haven, that will deny the extremists and the radicals. I happen to think there will be an additional dividend when we succeed -- remember the rug? I'm optimistic we can succeed."
Oh, good, see, it doesn't matter that Bush has no plan, and a real problem telling the truth even to himself, and won't admit he's gotten himself in way over his head: he's optimistic. Just look at his rug.
"People get pretty tired of war, and I understand that. It's really important as we -- that we have a sober discussion and understand what will be the consequences of failure. As I've told you, on the rug -- the reason I brought up the rug was to not only kind of break the ice, but also to talk about strategic thought. The president's job is to think not only about today, but tomorrow."
Frankly, George W. Bush, unscripted, is a train wreck. Scripted, I've always found him robotic, like he's reading the teleprompter phoenetically. (In National Review Online, T.J. Walker, in an apparently unironic attempt to praise Bush, once declared "Whether you love or loathe George W. Bush, you cannot deny that he has learned how to read a teleprompter.")
And I've just never bought the usual excuse that, okay, he's not a great public speaker, but that doesn't really affect his ability to run the country. That isn't necessarily true. The way someone speaks unscripted says a lot about the state of his or her mind. And Bush doesn't just mispronounce words occasionally. He says things that demonstrate a fundamental failure to understand the subject, like "interballistic missiles." He invariably talks to audiences of adults like he's addressing a group of kindergartners, demonstrating, I think, an authoritarian streak a mile wide. And he cannot stay on message or focus on anything genuinely complex or serious. Talking endlessly about the symbolic significance of your rug during an alleged speech about the "War on Terror" is, to me, a sign of an unserious, disorganized mind.
Of course I am not privy to the inner workings of the white house. But, come on, making an appearance at a high school during Gonzales's testimony seems like a laughable attempt to distract people. And, the fact that Bush looked so totally unprepared suggests that it was a last-minute thing. Then again, Gonzales had weeks to prepare and still looked like a kid who hasn't done the reading and gets called on in class. So maybe Bush did prepare. I don't know which would reflect on them more negatively.
But that's what has always struck me about this administration. They're comically bad at everything--including manipulating the public and the media. And yet, somehow, for years everyone in the press agreed to play along with it. Karl Rove isn't actually a genius, it's just that he's been thrown slow pitches over the heart of the plate for years. I think what history is going to wonder most about this era is how the political equivalent of "your shoe's untied" and "hey, look behind you" worked for these people for so long.
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