Bush's man-of-action persona plays well in political arena

James McWilliams
TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Monday, November 24, 2003

Call the man dim, call him corrupt, but call him president until 2008. George W. Bush certainly has vulnerabilities, but he's been smart enough to model himself on a man who pioneered the fine art of political image-making: Andrew Jackson. Democrats, as a result, are doomed...
...Bush embroiled the country in a war based on a series of false assumptions. His genius has been to recognize that, politically, it doesn't matter. Saddam Hussein has been ousted and if anyone is still nagging us about those pesky weapons of mass destruction, it's just sour grapes...
...The nation has no patience for long-winded justifications. In fact, it is suspicious of them. Until someone figures out that the house of cards the administration has built must be crumbled by a yeoman with a sledgehammer and not a smarty-pants with a book, King George's manifest destiny will be to reign as the favored son of King Andrew.

As to why people fall for the cheap populist swill Howdy et al offers up, THEY'RE STUUUUPID! Years of inadequate funding, concerted attacks by social conservatives and half-assed educational theories have stripped our public education system of the ability to teach people to reason to a valid conclusion. Anymore, folks don't want to think, they simply want to react...they can't see beyond the immediate moment to the long term consequences of their actions. And a reactionary government, like Howdy's, thrives on that attitude. "Don't worry, go shopping...!" was the Administration's advice to Americans after the fall of the World Trade Center. And people didn't question it. No sacrifices have been asked of the American people(unless you count those screwed by various Administration domestic policies) in the war on terrorism...Good heavens no, we can't have the voters at all uncomfortable especially with elections coming up. We have to have cheap gas available for all those Hummers out there on the road.