Donk cyberflunky Josh Marshall takes time out from criticizing Christopher Dodd (I kid! — Grand Kleagle props are sooo April 8…) to weigh in on last night’s Presidential news conference. Not surprisingly, Josh is concerned (in that furrow-browed, slightly bemused way peculiar to people who wear bicycle shorts and eat lots of Thai takeout) with the President’s lack of nuance:
I don’t know how to give a meaningful analysis of how the president did tonight. (I didn’t watch it live, but taped, later in the evening.) Perhaps my opinions of the man and his record are too set in stone for me to provide an objective take.
Perhaps, Josh? – ed.
But, even setting aside the awkward moments where the president couldn’t think of any mistake he’d ever made on foreign policy since 9/11, what I saw was a man with a quiver of cliches and a few simple stock arguments. Whatever the question, he grabbed a handful of those and tossed them back.
It’s become a bit impolitic in Washington to question whether the president really knows what he’s doing or whether he has any sort of a detailed handle on what’s going on on his watch. But I didn’t see much sign of either. I just saw a lot of push harder, freedom, we’re changing the world, ditching my policies means the terrorists win, etc. When it wasn’t that, the president expressed his willingness to go head to head with all those people who thought Saddam was doing a good job running Iraq and should be back in power. He’s also willing to go on the record disagreeing with all those critics of his policies who say that neither Muslims or “brown-skinned” people can create democracies.
I saw a man on autopilot, and a pretty crude autopilot at that.
…which, one might argue, is a pretty apt summary of Josh’s own writing since, well, always.
Me, I see in the President a man who comes across as rough-tongued but sincere. And dedicated. And I think both of these things will work to his advantage with the electorate in a post-Clinton political climate.
Clinton was brilliant at the veiled wink to cultural elites even as he “felt our pain.” There’s a 90s-style irony to his sax-hipster demeanor, and as President he was quite skilled at exploiting it. Kerry, however, is no Clinton — and he comes across as cloying and opportunistic (which, of course, he is). I could be wrong, but I think for the majority of voters, conviction will trump polish in a world that it turns out has not yet reached the end of history, after all. Time will tell, I suppose.
Apologies for the bicycle shorts imagery, by the way. But it needed saying. Just be thankful I didn’t go bringing helmets into this.
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[update: Outside the Beltway]
I dunno, Jeff, there are an awful lot of people who like their prez to be glib & smooth with only the perception of sincerity. Reagan had this glibness even if he was sincere.
Clearly, Kerry has credibility issues and that makes Bush’s job a bit easier (sidebar: but look at the dorks Reagan ran against). On the other hand, seven months of the major media presenting Bush’s strengths as supposed weaknesses is a potent counter-force.
sorry to be off topic, but I’m distracted by the blogger bash ad you’re running. that chick’s backside says, “boys, over here!”
being a chick makes that reallly distracting. if you don’t want non-ho type chicks at the event, the ad is fine. except maybe you should just say that.
you probably want to delete this, since it doesn’t belong here. and yes, I do like to dance. but I don’t get the “tapping” references.
Tee Bee —
The ad revolves randomly on site reloads. So sometimes you’ll see the girl, other times you’ll see an ashtray or some such.
I have no idea who the girl is or how she represents the RMBB 3.0. But I appreciate her her enthusiasm, nevertheless.
Re: tapping. I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with the process of making a beer keg viable. In this case, it’s used metaphorically.
so…. is she the headliner, or what?
snickering aside, I thought the bicycle shorts thing was pretty apt. okay, snickering not aside.
godDAMN you are on a roll. . . .
When a leader is dedicated to unworkable and disastrous ideas, his dedication can become a serious liability, more like stubbornness or zealotry. So dedication alone is not necessarily a positive.
Kristol is right to be depressed, Bush has to convince the fencesitters that his Iraq strategy is actually workable, and so far he hasn’t done that.
Well, the fence sitters are going to have to decide between a dedicated President being undermined at every turn by a hostile press, or a pandering dilettante who wants to drag the UN in against both its will and the wishes of the Iraqis.
Not only do I wear bicycle shorts and wear a helmet when I ride, I also have one of those rear-view mirrors mounted on my helmet. Laugh all you want, but if you’re a guy and you ride without the correct shorts on, you’ll end up with sores rubbed into your private parts. As for helmets, they don’t look nearly as dorky as they used to.
Bicycle clothing does not an idiotarian make. Charles Johnson from LGF is a very serious cyclist.
Sorry this isn’t as funny as JG usually is, but it’s bad enough that all the herbal granolists think that cycling is a domain of the left, we cyclists of the Sept. 12th variety don’t need grief from our own peeps.
It wasn’t bicycle shorts per se, it was the idea of Josh Marshall pulling them on that soured the imagery for me.
Do you eat a lot of Thai takeout, too? If so I owe you a a big apology. Charles too
Frankly, I can’t understand how anyone can support the imbecilic George Bush. Everything out of his mouth is 9/11 this, terrorists that. war this…does he not understand the nature of our interconnected world? Does he not understand the pain felt by the ever increasing American families living in poverty? Is it beyond his limited thinking capacity to respond with original (uncanned) answers to questions – real answers, not just his usual twangy, non-answer nonsense we’ve been treated to for 3 years. Give me a man with a fully functioning brain (John Kerry) anyday over the current squatter in the White House.
I can’t give you anything. This is America. You want him, vote for him.
And while I’m sure Bush doesn’t understand the whole “interconnected world” thing, he sure does look rugged in a Carhart jacket. Which is enough for an imbecile like me.
interconnected apparantly means, “they are all our friends, and we must make nice-nice… and if they aren’t our friends, we must try harder to make them our friends, then sit in a corner and cut ourselves and wonder why no one likes us.” it can never, never mean, “we live in a neighborhood and value our neighbors, but if one of them breaks into the house, they can expect to come face to face with our glock. and if they intend to keep coming back for more, we are going to go to their place and have a little blanket party. and get our casserole dish back.” yeah, that second part isn’t interconnected at all. warmongers. bushenron. israel. [I’d put yearrrrrrggggghhhh!!! here, but someone already used that today. damn.]
ps quit smoking years ago and never thought I’d be happy to see an ashtray….