Bush and Reality (Herbert, NYT)

[sfecap]

Bush and Reality
By BOB HERBERT

October 4, 2004
E-mail: [e-mail]


For 90 minutes, at least, democracy seemed to be working. The two men in dark suits took their places at the lecterns. The analysts, the handlers, the spinmeisters and the hangers-on had been cleared out of the way. With no commercial interruptions, more than 60 million Americans got a rare, unedited, close-up look at the candidates in one of the most important presidential elections in the nation's history.

John Kerry got the better of President Bush in last Thursday's debate in Coral Gables, Fla. The president seemed listless, defensive and not particularly well prepared. His facial expressions and body language at times were odd. Some of his strongest supporters were dismayed by his performance, and polls are showing they had reason to be concerned.

There undoubtedly were many reasons for Mr. Bush's lackluster effort. But I think there was one factor, above all, that undermined the president in last week's debate, and will continue to plague him throughout the campaign. And that was his problematic relationship with reality.

(snip)

Mr. Bush got his big bounce in the public opinion polls from the Swift boat nonsense and the mocking, nonstop criticism of Senator Kerry at the Republican National Convention. Those were distractions from the real world. But reality cannot be kept at bay indefinitely. Readers of The Washington Post got a disturbing dose of it yesterday from a front-page article about the strain being put on the overloaded systems of veterans' disability benefits and health care by the thousands of American troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with physical injuries and mental health problems.

The article noted that "President Bush's budget for 2005 calls for cutting the Department of Veterans Affairs staff that handles benefits claims."

A staff sergeant who was paralyzed in a mortar attack near Baghdad was quoted as saying: "I love the military; that was my life. But I don't believe they're taking care of me now."

The real world is President Bush's Achilles' heel. He can't keep his distance from it forever.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/opinion/04herbert.html

[Bundbuster]

1. Kick for Bob Herbert

As usual, SPOT ON.

[Albertan]

2. Bush's biggest debating problem

Is that he has surrounded himself with yes men for the past four years. On the very odd occasion that he has granted the press an interview during his presidency, he has looked every bit as bad as he did on Thursday. But since all most people see of Bush are his scripted, rehearsed appearances, a lot of people were surprised by the real Bush. And I think that Bush was genuinely surprised that people didn't buy into his repetitive talking points. He's been away from reality for so long that he has actually forgotten what it's like.

This is a problem that Bush cannot fix by next week. It's too late to cram for this exam. Continue to spread the word that Bush will be much better at this next debate, but don't make the mistake of believing your own spin. He has every reason to do much worse at his next debate. First, things are not going according to plan for him so he has a LOT of added pressure to perform well. Bush does not do well under pressure. Second, he is going to be getting hit from advice from all sides on how to improve his performance. He cannot absorb it all in such a short time. Expect to see him try to pull it off for a half hour tops before he melts down again. Third, he got whooped at his "strong point", foreign policy, so you can bet he's going to have some shot nerves going into this one. He will lose this debate, and the next one, and the American people will have finally seen the true Bush.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. No, he has 2 problems:

1. On the whole, all his policies and actions are INDEFENSIBLE to the American people. They are all based on lies, have greed as their motivation and power/financial gain (for the few) as their goal.

2. He is not a bright man. Maybe, just maybe, if W had 2 brain cells to rub together might have a chance of spinning some of this a bit better. OTOH, maybe not.....