A newspaper column in the much-appraised Grauniad sums up the European view of doubya nicely: "George Bush is a dim-witted cowboy who cheated his way into the white house". This view is supported every time you hear a sound byte or see him on TV - invariably saying something that makes it seem as if he has little or no command of the English language.
So why on earth did he get elected?
Personally - both as a journalist, and privately - I have read several dozens of Bush' speeches. Transcribed. None of which have made him seem a lot more intelligent. But somehow he did manage to get himself into the most influential chair in the world; The throne of the Oval Office.
I have to admit that this has surprised, shocked, and amazed me on many occasions. I have caught myself thinking stuff like "damn – if HE won the election, I am not sure if I want to know about the rest of the lot".
So, today, before going to a lecture at my university, I headed to the university's department of America studies. (yes, there is such a thing), and I have watched a few of doubya's speeches in full. Yes, he can't string a sentence together. He has a speech impediment (or five), and he does look like a monkey every now and then. But none of these points disqualify him as a good president.
Eating my prejudice
Nothing you see on television is coincidental. Nothing you read in the newspapers hasn't been read by several instances. And most of the impressions you see offer a distorted version of the truth: I saw the way a presidential meeting is organised once. Everything – and I do mean everything – is planned to the last inch. That includes the seemingly spontaneous greetings, the sudden stops to admire something or another, etc. The backdrops to television shoots are carefully planned. Or – to again quote the guardian – "[the planner] is seen ushering a black woman towards a spot right behind the podium. She will be over the speaker's shoulder. Television viewers will see her, not the overwhelmingly white, male crowd that fills the stage."
All of which sets the mood for a warm reception of the President of the USA. None of which anyone will ever see anything of. But – despite being dirty tricks trying ( - successfully - ) to influence public opinion – all of this is unimportant. Everything is about the man's words.
The speaker
After having seen hours of footage of him, I feel I know him a little. And he is a lousy actor. Which makes his speeches all the stronger. On several of his appeals, his speeches were delivered with surgical precision. The emotions that shone through, via gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and several passages of the speeches that were obviously non-scripted. Not obvious because they were worse, but because he seemed to relax more, speaking from the heart, speaking faster than he was thinking. You know what I mean – when you are speaking about something that just somehow makes sense, and when one word just brings the next. And the next. And the next.
Then it struck me. He might – indeed – not seem to be the wisest person in the world, but what he lacks in the way intelligence is commonly expressed – good manners, common sense and linguistic abilities – he most certainly makes up in charisma and passion - both for his country and for his people.
I recall a phrase one of my teachers when I lived in the US kept repeating; "There are many people in Washington who are significantly more powerful than the president". Nobody ever got out of her what she meant, but one possible answer could be the presidential advisors. Which brings us one step closer to the point of this writeup: In the middle of this insane media circus that is the US president, you have a man that is captured 'in the middle'. He seems to have infinite power, and is the one person who gets blamed when something is placed in a plane heading for the side of a mountain. More seriously, though – he knows it. And – however much you debate it – Bush tackles the pressure he is certainly feeling surprisingly well, with a flair that not many could copy. Which has to be thoroughly admired.
Which is not to say that I subscribe to any of his views.