WP: The President as Average Joe

[DeepModem Mom]

The President as Average Joe
Trying to Boost Support, Bush Brings Banter to the People
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 2, 2006; A04

President Bush was taking questions from an audience the other day when he was asked about the immigration debate raging in Washington.

"It's obviously topic du jour ," he said.

The audience laughed at the famously Francophobic Texan's faux accent....

***

As he takes to the road to salvage his presidency, Bush is letting down his guard and playing up his anti-intellectual, regular-guy image. Where he spent last year in rehearsed forums with select supporters, these days he is more frequently throwing aside the script and opening himself to questions from audiences that are not prescreened. These sessions have put a sometimes playful, sometimes awkward side back on display after years of trying to keep it under control to appear more presidential.

Call it the let-Bush-be-Bush strategy. The result is a looser president, less serious at times, even at times when humor might seem out of place. Aides used to dread such settings, worried about gaffes or the way Bush might come across in spontaneous exchanges. But with his poll numbers somewhere south of the border, they concluded that Bush handles back-and-forth better than he once did -- and that they have little left to lose....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/01/AR2006040101004_pf.html

[niyad]

1. anybody who falls for this phony "good ole' boy act" is too f****** STUPID

to be allowed to exercise the franchise, or make any sorts of decisions at all. where the HELL are their keepers?

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. The result is a looser president, or loser president?

He can't ever be a "dumber" president than he already is.

[Redneck Socialist]

3. They spelled a word wrong there

The result is a looser president,...

Shouldn't that be The result is a loser president,...?

[padia]

6. I guess that depends

on whether he is not as uptight these days, but then again I grew up speaking trailer

[Erika]

4. W attended New England prep schools

and has a luxurious family compound in Maine. He never worked a day in his life. Just a regular Joe. Every mess he made was cleaned up by others.

And of course, his family members are serving in Iraq, right?

[oldcoot]

19. This "Average Joe" stuff is insulting!

For the press and Bush's handlers to portray Bush as an "Average Joe" is extremely insulting for the reasons you just listed. How dare they compare Bush to people who, if they are college educated, had to either work their way through state universities or went deeply in debt to pay for their educations? Many of these "Average Joes" and "Average Janes" probably have more talent in their little fingers than Bush has in his entire body but they have to struggle make ends meet because they do not have his connections or education.

[mwb970]

25. Bush doesn't have an education.

He has an attendance record, but that's it. I know more about the world than he does - and that's scary!

[Atman]

5. Didn't he play out this card?

Do people still fall for the "he's a idiot jest like me!" bullshit? He's an idiot like no other in history. And why, pray tell, is any American comfortable having a president who is dumber than any of his next door neighbors?

[tenshi816]

18. Sadly, people do still fall for it.

It reinforces the belief people have that in America, anybody can grow up to be President. It was never about what he has to say, it's all about how he says it, and "the folks" (as O'Reilly would say) continue to fall for it hook, line and sinker. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this latest move bumps him up a few points.

When the Shrub is doing his real shitkicker, aw-shucks routine, he sounds almost exactly like my own father, a country boy from the Appalachian foothills of northeast Georgia. It's phoney as hell because GWB's upbringing was as different from my dad's as you can get. I'm convinced that Bush supporters know this on some basic level but choose to ignore it. Because he sounds like them, they think he is one of them, whereas the rest of us know that he's just being patronizing.

[TygrBright]

7. F*** this. I'm ready for an intelligent stuffed-shirt.

After eight years of Bubba (and yes, he DID disgrace his office with all that canoodling) and six years of moron boy, you know who I'm getting nostalgic for?

Cripes... Eisenhower. And Truman. And all those other earnest, serious, stuffed shirts in suits I used to make fun of but never CRINGED when I saw their pictures plastered on the front page, etc.

After an all-too-long era of demanding that our top-level leaders be "just folks" like the rest of us, I'm frankly ready for someone who is decorous, diplomatic, maybe even a bit stuffy. Someone who doesn't make an EFFING FOOL of her/himself in public, doesn't embarrass the nation with Penthouse antics or sophomoric comments.

Someone who speaks good, even formal, English. Someone who dresses like s/he understands the power, responsibility, and obligation that the office of President carries with it.

Someone --dare I say it-- maybe even a little bit DULL, except when making formal speeches full of well-crafted rhetoric.

I'd like a leader who, once the election is over, uses great restraint, politeness, and respect in how s/he refers to those with whom s/he disagrees, ideologically and politically. Someone who uses an opprobrious term so rarely that it is startling and meaningful when it is used. Someone who doesn't snark, doesn't use innuendo, doesn't rely on straw men, doesn't 'talk in code' to her/his 'base.'

I'd pass on the occasional soul-stirring, gut-wrenching, cheer-inducing eloquence for simple clarity, even a little understatement from time to time.

I don't want my President to be "just folks," or someone who's "just like the guy/gal next door." I want my President to be someone I can be proud of, someone who will implicitly draw respect, even if s/he is a bit plastic or wood from time to time.

I know, I know... it'll never happen.

But I can dream, can't I?

wistfully,
Bright

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Great post, TygrBright -- thanks! nt

[Karenca]

10. sounds like Kerry. .... eom

[darkmaestro019]

15. I was thinking that

When I first saw Kerry speak on TV I was moved to frustrated tears, thinking how much RELIEF I'd feel lying in bed at night knowing he was in charge of America.

[Karenca]

28. Yes, remember the debates.

I was so sure from those debates that America "got it".

I cried so much watching the election returns.:cry:

[darkmaestro019]

31. (nod) (hands tissue)

Shouting at the TV "THAT is what a President sounds like! That's what BRAIN ACTIVITY sounds like! He's so creamed him, Bush is utterly pwned..."

Ah. Well, it was pleasant for that few minutes.

[alarimer]

13. Yes. I think Gore had a little of that, as did Kerry

But I think a President should be better than average. Should be smarter, more knowledgeable. Now I DO NOT want to have a beer with President Dumbass here but I would have a glass of wine with a President Kerry.

[grasswire]

14. I think you're looking for Wes Clark.

Seriously. I understand fully what you mean. And as I read your post, it dawned on me. The Clark people were right. He would be the president you desire. Smart. Straight. Fair. Experienced.

[Golden Raisin]

27. We'd do better with Yogi & Boo-Boo in charge.

And all the PHONY down-home crap from a patrician-born, silver-spoon, fratboy with every conceivable ruling-class advantage guaranteed to NOT make him an "average Joe". I want my President to be proud of having a brain, sophistication, intellect & class. I don't want fucking Gomer Pyle or some other Grand Ole' Opry' type representing me and my country on the domestic & world stages. The worst is when you see Presidents and Prime Ministers from other countries giving speeches or being interviewed. Even a sleazy asswipe like Berlusconi comes off like a combo Cary Grant/Einstein/Shakespeare compared to Dubya.

[Lisa]

30. Al Gore used to put on a jacket and tie when he was meeting voters

His kids teased him about it, and he said that this wasn't because he was particularly fond of wearing business attire, or wanted to dazzle them with his wardrobe (they weren't very expensive suits). His father had taught him that when you are talking to your constitutents, you have to act as though you are meeting your boss. Looking slovenly or making rude or tiresome jokes reflects poorly on you, and on the area you're representing. Better to be thought of as too stodgy, than as someone who doesn't care.

[TayTay]

8. This is also not working.

Everytime this President goes out on the road, his polls fall.

BTW, how many strategies are we on now for selling this dog of a war to the public in the last 8 months or so? And what has been the result?

The Washington Post may still fawn over Bush, but the American people have made up their minds. 34-38% approval ratings is pretty definitive. The American people are not buying this, no matter how hard some in the press push it.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln

[SeattleGirl]

11. Bush is "playing up his anti-intellectual, regular-guy image."

WTF is wrong with being smart? With being intelligent? Ever since this guy came into office, anyone with half a brain as been vilified because of it. Not saying that Bush is an intellectual giant -- we all know he's not. But to deliberately dumb himself down even more is absolute nonsense.

Yes, I know that that kind of crap does appeal to some people, but I've got news for Mr. Bush. It doesn't appeal to everyone who might SEEM to fit into the anti-intellectual crowd. My dad was born and raised in Arkansas. He never even finished 8th grade, which was quite common in the day. For his entire life, my father thought he was stupid because he had not finished high school. One day, I had a wonderful opportunity to have a conversation with Dad, and I told him, "Dad, you are not stupid. You are under-educated, and that's not the same thing." I think it helped him, and he stopped feeling like he was stupid. He wasn't. He had a good head on his shoulders. So, while his politics may have leaned toward the conservative side of the scale, this crap that Bush does would have totally insulted Dad. He admired educated people, and one of the proudest days of his life was watching me graduate from high school. I wish he could have been around when I graduated from college, but he passed away almost 30 years ago.

[DanCa]

12. I really wish we had a president that was better than average.

Call me crazy but I want someone in office who I can look up too. A president that inspires me and one that I can learn from. Is that too much ask for? Hell right now I'd settle for a President that can speak complete sentances.

[CJCRANE]

16. So, a third-rate stand-up comedian

is at the helm.

That's reassuring.

[Carla in Ca]

17. LOL...and his "I want to go first!" manners

haven't changed either. Remember when spoiled boy had to get through the door first at the Clinton Library?


Well, he did it again. What a jerk.





Edit:Courtesy of Hoffmania! <http://www.hoffmania.com/blog/2006/04/first_guy_on_th.html>

[Bluebear]

20. "It's obviously topic du jour ," he said.

Because his boys in congress and the media are pushing it as the "topic DO JUR."

[Buns_of_Fire]

21. Sorry, Good Ol' Dubya.. I want a President BETTER than I am.

And knowing the royal fuckup I've turned out to be, that's really not all that high a bar. But it distresses me no end to actually think -- to believe -- to KNOW -- that I've probably got more on the ball than the person running this country. I suppose looking for heroes is a fool's errand when the world seems so lacking in them these days.

Or perhaps we ARE the heroes we're looking for, and just don't realize it yet...

[Imagevision]

22. umm...the average "Joe" doen't kill innocent people like Bush does

dubya has this thing about slaughtering anyone who gets in the way of his money machine.

[saigon68]

24. .the average "Joe" doesn't look like this Half Wit

Notice the intelligence in his eyes

He is trying to think

It is hard for him

But he is trying

[xchrom]

23. for me this isn't about bush -- but about the people who like

him -- about the character of our fellow citizens.

they know bush isn't like them -- they knew his father, fer christ's sake.

it's time to talk about them -- on a public level.

[Vinca]

26. The comedy routine isn't working, either.

Prior to cracking wise about Speedos, he was trying to seriously discuss dead Palestinians (I think - he's got so many dead people everywhere I lose track of which country he's citing). The end result was the idiot seemed more hung over than usual. He-he-he.

[Lisa]

29. average Americans tend to have more tact and empathy!

Even when they haven't gone to Yale and Harvard (or attended college at all). That's just what I've observed, as a Canadian.

Snickering at people and putting on a bad hayseed imitation (as if that's what you have to do to "fit in" with them) is just as offputting as snobbery. Bush seems to be under the impression that "educated" language is the same thing as being condescending. He either doesn't realize (or doesn't want to see) that NOT LISTENING TO PEOPLE'S CONCERNS is the major factor. If you dismiss them -- as he's done repeatedly, when people like Cindy Sheehan, or that firefighter who was concerned about ANWR, were standing there talking to him -- it DOESN'T MATTER what regional accent you have, or how plain or fancy your words are. Waving aside their concerns like that is rude and unfair.