The Decider returns to haunt Mr Nuance as George W. Bush eclipses Barack Obama

[WestVirginiaRebel]

UK Telegraph:

The 43rd and 44th American presidents are a study in contrasts, but the link between them is symbiotic, argues Toby Harnden. There could have been no Obama without Bush, and only Obama's stumbles could have made Bush look good again so quickly.

Say what you like about former President George W. Bush, but his sense of timing is impeccable. Just after his successor Barack Obama took a self-described "shellacking" at the polls, Dubya was back, mocking the current occupant of the White House by his very presence.

For the 43rd President, the return must have been sweet.

Obama was elected in large part because he was the unBush: biracial not bluebood; silky tongue, not foot-in-mouth; reflective not impetuous; cool rather than hot.

During the 2008 election campaign, Obama slammed Bush at every turn. Since then, the 44th President has almost ceaselessly blamed his predecessor for everything, even stooping to lambast Karl Rove, Bush's long-time aide, by name during the recent mid-terms campaign.

But the anti-Bush shtick soon wore thin. Two years after Obama was anointed, the halo around his head seemed distinctly tarnished. In his post-defeat interview with 60 Minutes, Obama was at his most listless and meandering, projecting all the certainty of a Hamlet on the Potomac.

Right on cue, Bush entered, stage Right, clutching a copy of his 497-page memoir Decision Points, a tome full of breezy certainty.

Did he order the waterboarding of terrorist suspects? "Damn right."

Did he ever have doubts about pre-war intelligence on Iraq? "I really didn't." Boring of Mr Nuance, Americans lapped it up.

Whereas Obama was glum, wondering aloud whether 9.6 per cent unemployment might be "the new normal" and griping that as US president "you're held responsible for everything but you don't always have control of everything", Bush used his interviews to display an almost giddy insouciance.

On the Oprah Winfrey Show, Bush charmed the woman who had proclaimed Obama as "the One" and hailed his "tongue dipped in unvarnished truth" in Iowa back in 2007.

"When it [the presidency] was over, I knew I'd given my heart and soul, I'd poured everything I had into the job and was grateful for the opportunity to serve," Bush said.

With his characteristic corny self-deprecation, Bush said he had enjoyed the writing process. "I know full well it's going to come as a shock to some people. A lot of people didn't think I could read, much less write." Boom boom.

Whereas Obama's memoir Dreams From My Father is a reflective and lyrical work, Bush's Decision Points is a quick, rather shallow read.

They share, along with virtually every other major political figure, the same literary super-agent, Robert Barnett, a Washington lawyer and influential Democrat. Beyond that, the two have little in common as writers.

In his book, Bush views Obama with a kindlier eye than he does John McCain, the Republican candidate.

Obama responds "graciously" in a phone call, spoke with a "calm demeanour" during the financial crisis and "stood up to critics" by ordering a troop surge in Afghanistan. He seems genuinely affected by the election of the first black president of the United States.

Bush must know, however, that his steadfast refusal to make any comment at all about Obama's presidency stands in stark contrast to the derision he has received from his successor. He is self-aware enough to realise that his pithy, confident interview answers are sharply different from Obama's wordy circumlocutions.

Who would have thought that the man hailed as a great American orator and whose stage at the 2008 Democratic convention was a faux Greek temple would be shown up in terms of the theatricality and articulation of the presidency by the man derided as a tongue-tied bumbler and global village idiot?
________

Bush's comeback has been about more than The One's missteps. Whatever his faults might have been as President, Bush was always authentic. Obama is the ultimate in artificiality.

[NCTexan]

Yup... I sure do.

 

The real sad thing is.... that even Bill Clinton had so much more class than the present occupant of the Oval Office.

 

[SrWoodchuck]

Obama was elected in large part because he was the unBush: biracial not bluebood; silky tongue, not foot-in-mouth; reflective not impetuous; cool rather than hot.

WVR!

 

No......the guy I've seen for two+ years is.......

biracial.....no........racial.......

silky tongue......no.........stumbling, if un-TOTUS-ed........

feet-in-mouthed.........

vindictive and quick to anger........

cold...........

 

Are we talking about the same Obama?

 

Oh, great comments from the UK Telegraph site, too. Thanks!

[Evad]

Obama is a pimp..

but I never knew until today that it was Barzini all along.

[SrWoodchuck]

Obama is a pimp..

but I never knew until today that it was Barzini all along.

Evad!

 

Don't think the donkey head in his bed on November 3rd made any difference.

[AceRimmer]

Obama is a pimp..

but I never knew until today that it was Barzini all along.

Evad!

 

Don't think the donkey head in his bed on November 3rd made any difference.

 

Nah, he went on a junket to Asia instead. Wait till the Chinese tongs and Yakuza get their hands on him...

[Evad]

Obama is a pimp..

but I never knew until today that it was Barzini all along.

Evad!

 

Don't think the donkey head in his bed on November 3rd made any difference.

 

Nah, he went on a junket to Asia instead. Wait till the Chinese tongs and Yakuza get their hands on him...

 

heh..wait till Michael comes after him. (in this parody, it could be a she)

[Pepper]

Self-deprecating humor is a great trait when it comes natural. And it does to Bush.

 

Obama is not capable of it. Obama has not a single fault. The only fault Obama claims is the nation's inability to understand him clearly and how he intends to screw us over.

[AceRimmer]

Obama is a pimp..

but I never knew until today that it was Barzini all along.

Evad!

 

Don't think the donkey head in his bed on November 3rd made any difference.

 

Nah, he went on a junket to Asia instead. Wait till the Chinese tongs and Yakuza get their hands on him...

 

heh..wait till Michael comes after him. (in this parody, it could be a she)

 

Will it be Jeb, Barbara, Jenna or George P. Bush(he's still out there). One of them will settle the family accounts...

[Valin]

Yup... I sure do.

 

The real sad thing is.... that even Bill Clinton had so much more class than the present occupant of the Oval Office.

 

 

 

Not that I disagree...but talk about setting the bar low!

 

 

I've mentioned this over at CGP, at least with Bill and Hillary we had a record to look at. They had do stuff, substantive record (ok most of it would be considered bad by you and I, my point is they had experience in politics at a high level), not so with "The One'. He was a amateur, and it's showing now.