Americans now seeing the smirk that turned off the world
Sat Oct 02, 2004 at 09:39:14 AM PDT
Bush has now shown the American people the face he's shown the rest of the world. The same small-minded, provincial, stubborn attitude that has turned off our friends worldwide was broadcast into the homes of 60 million people while Kerry challenged him.
This is why nobody else supports us. This is why allies are dropping off the Iraq map, quietly. This is why the UN can't wholeheartedly back our efforts, and we can't be trusted anymore. The petulance of a small boy in a diverse and complicated world.
So what can Kerry say that highlights this fact in a way that doesn't make him look like a sore winner?
We've got the upper hand here. We're in control of the message. The frame is
"Bush looks uncomfortable when questioned."
Also, another meme that has stuck is that he "looked like he had enough material for a 10-30 minute debate and had to stretch and repeat the rest of the time."
And a third, less repeated but strong one is that he kept saying he "knows how this world works." Now, I don't know about other voters, but I don't like being talked down to like that. Sure, he has a lot of information about other leaders, enemies, etc... but to suggest that there is nobody else who has a combination of information, experience and instinct is just insulting.
Isn't that the typical complaint about Dems? That they act like they know what's best for everybody? And that's the root of the "big government" complaint. This is the first time that Americans have seen, in blinding color and detail, a conservative who believes he knows "what's best" for everyone else.
Bush, supposedly an everydayman, showed his true colors. He's an entitled elitist who's never been questioned. He can't deal with opposing thoughts and has traditionally dealt with them through folksiness or power. In an equalized setting where he has to defend his poor choices, he just gets frustrated. It's a very ugly characteristic.
This administration is the result of money, access, and especially the spoiled coddling of the "me generation" baby boomers. Bush's masculine style was created by his mother, reinforced through his father's influence, and brought to power by the neocons. It couldn't have happened any other way.
And the smirk is the key to making this apparent to voters. Everything before this was simply dismissed as "politics as usual," and "they're all assholes." But now, we have a very good foothold. Nobody will forget that petulant smirk. Bush has attached that image to his presidency for life.
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