Father Figure

Mr. Bush's Press Conference

I didn't watch all of the festivities last night; I missed the opening statement, which critics seem to agree was the strongest part of Bush's hour at the microphone. What I did see was an extraordinary misadventure with both logic and the English language as our vocabulary-challenged president attempted to answer the questions of a press that rarely has the opportunity to address him in this kind of forum. More than looking like he had forgotten his script, Bush looked like he had forgotten where he was: he cast scowls at reporters, joked with the press as if they were on Air Force One rather than on national television, and leaned up against his podium in contorted poses that reminded me of a sixth grader giving a speech in class and trying to hide. Had he looked any more panicked, someone would have called a doctor.

The substance of Bush's answers, such as it was, also came up very short. Every bit of his reasoning is circular, and his assertions have grown tired. Give the man credit for his willingness to stay relentlessly on message, because you've got to give him credit for something, but begin to wonder: Is he stuck on message only because he lacks the intellectual firepower to think of a better one? Unable to imagine any way in which he could have done better during the last two and a half years, Bush conveyed the impression last night that he's out of ideas for the future as well, other than to believe in the fight he's started and hope against hope that imposing deadlines will actually result in a project being completed. Anyone who's ever worked on anything knows that "meeting" a deadline can be done in one of many ways, and one can only imagine the way that this deadline will be met: with a sloppy mess, cobbled together at the eleventh hour, perhaps technically a reflection of the assignment but wholly incapable of answering the real challenges beyond.

Indeed, last night Bush looked a lot like his father, and his "Stay the course" message was borrowed directly from papa as well. He seemed as out of touch talking about war in Iraq and life after 9/11 as his father did talking about the price of milk and seeing scanners at the grocery store. After watching him stumble repeatedly last night, it's hard to believe that Bush can capably lead the nation through the complicated tasks ahead. It's equally hard to believe that the son won't meet the father's electoral fate.