Reply #47: What happened was... [View All]

[Prophet 451]

At some point, your countrymen decided (or, more likely, were manipulated into deciding) that government should not be run by the best and brightest but by the most typical, Joe Six-Pack, the mediocre. Of course, the problem with that is that politics is a hugely complicated business. Vastly more complex than Joe Six-Pack has the brains or inclination to understand.

I'm not sure exactly when it started but Reagan was probably the first of the real "down-home" presidents. Bush Sr. couldn't do down-home and got booted because of it although his malapropisms didn't help (although I maintain that the one involving the checkout scanner was just an attempt to make polite small talk). Clinton was the best of both worlds, he could do down-home folksy but had a real intelligence underneath. Now, you've got this clown.

Incidently, as a Brit, I feel mildly insulted by his attitude toward our PM. I might not like Blair (actually, I can't stand the man) and I don't know how they do things in Crawford but here, you do not address a man purely by his surname unless you wish to insult him. "Mr. Blair" is probably overly formal but would "Tony" have been too much to ask? Wars have been started over less and his arrogant, dismissive attitude toward virtually his only ally on the world stage was infuriating.