Primary Questions

(2 of 2)
When Bush is challenged about his mastery of the material, his response goes straight to his vision of presidential leadership, the argument that too much knowledge can clutter a vision. His experts can sort through the details, he says; it is more important for a President to have strong convictions about where he wants to take the country. The spirit he invokes is that of Ronald Reagan, who, as Ted Kennedy once noted, could forget your name but always remembered his goals. But 1999 is not 1979, Bush's critics reply: the nation is not shuddering through a cold war or a crisis of confidence that demands a grand vision and buoyant spirit. The job, with the times, has changed, so that on any given morning, a President may have to wrestle with Mexico, Medicaid and Microsoft. Reagan could afford to be more full of principle than policy detail because his whole view of government was that it should do as little as possible; a candidate like Bush, with an activist agenda, is bidding for a job that comes with much more homework.

In the end, both men were swatting away charges about their brains and their tempers with the other great weapon in this race, the sword of authenticity. "The only thing I know to do is be myself," Bush told TIME, when asked if it bothered him to be tarred as a lightweight. "And, ya know, if people like it, fine; if they don't like it, that's the way it is." As for McCain, he argued to TIME that his imperfections only improved him. "By realizing that you are a person with some weaknesses, it gives you a better appreciation that others may not be perfect," he said. It was as if he could wear his flaws like another one of his medals.