Anybody remember this sort of crap from back in 2000? It's
The Factor from Oct. 24, 2000, but it could have been on any of the TV news shows (bold added):
GREISING [Chicago Tribune columnist]: I don't think that's a terrible thing. But I think when you like thinking about what is happening at 2:00 a.m. in the Situation Room, and somebody has to make a decision as to whether to give a call to Ehud Barak or not, whether talk to Yasser Arafat or not...
O'REILLY: Well, they will wake up Governor Bush and he'll tell them what they decided. I mean, that's what they'll do. They'll say: Hey, Governor, you're making a call. And here's the briefing sheet.
Ignore O'Reilly's ambiguous syntax because what he's doing is clear: he's apologizing for a candidate who plans to sleep through important decisions. Bush
ran on this image. Goofing off or sleeping while his war crumbles to pieces, or the Gulf Coast drowns, or Cheney shoots a man in the face, or...
Bush never promised to do otherwise. He ran as the guy "you'd rather have a beer with." From a little later in
The Factor:
GREISING: In terms of, if you want somebody who is friendly running the country, and somebody -- as some of these polls indicate -- whom you would like to have a beer with us, I think you could say that George Bush is the guy you would like to have a beer with, and you think would a friendly -- you would rather spend an hour with him in the Oval Office.
Al Gore would annoy the hell out of you. But Al Gore is somebody who has shown the experience, I think, his Reinventing Government has shown he has does a knack for downsizing government. I think this whole big- government rap...
"The guy you'd like to have a beer with" needs to be seriously downgraded in terms of its significance in political campaigns. Obviously candidates like Bush, who offer nothing of substance, will always
need to emphasize these types of non-issues. And now that everything is televised and candidates are celebrities, charisma is an important ability modifier (my CHA is 18, of course).
But I'd like to see more commentators, candidates, and elected officials use the example of Bush to sound the obvious warning: anybody who meets some minimial requirements can run for office; but not everybody can do a good job in that office. It's hard work, as Bush himself so aptly observed. When someone is making a big deal about what a fun-lovin' guy he is--telling you that's why you should vote for him, that there'll always be someone around to cover if he's not in the mood to work--remember this diary by emptypockets. Remember the Aug. 6, 2001 PDB, The Pet Goat, and Katrina. Put the "fun-lovin' campaign plank" in its proper perspective.
You can have a beer with almost anyone and things will turn out OK. (I wouldn't recommend having any beer with Cheney, though--I gather he's a stupid drunk.) Even some competent people make good beerdrinking partners. But presidentin' is hard work. All presidents can drink beer well, but not all beer drinkers can "president" well.
P.S. The quoted stuff is from Nexis. I didn't find a free link to it. Sorry. Also, this was originally a comment on the diary linked above, but I decided to repost it with some edits as my own diary because, why not?