Does Bush Really Get Us?

(2 of 2)

Woodward's book will feed the endless, fruitless speculation among the President's critics about the nature of his certainty, his allergic reaction to doubt or introspection. Is it religious, Oedipal or congenital? No doubt the President gets a kick out of these sorts of mind games. He probably enjoys the secular left's discomfort with his religious references as much as he "enjoyed" going up against the stony Gen eral Assembly (and despite a few awkward moments, he probably had a ball frustrating the reporters who asked him to admit mistakes or make apologies in his recent press conference).

Perhaps Bush is more easily explained. Maybe his certainty is a marketing strategy. Clearly, the President and Karl Rove believe that Americans want a strong, God-fearing, plainspoken leader who doesn't burden them with complexities. That was certainly true in the recent past, as the nation wafted through an unprecedented period of affluence. It may still be true. The President's poll ratings remain buoyant, despite ample evidence in recent weeks that his Iraq policies are trending toward disaster.

But there is an annoying condescension to this style of leadership. It assumes that nothing has changed since 9/11, that Americans are too busy living their lives to ask tough questions about that planeload of flag-draped coffins--an image the Pentagon didn't want you to see--heading home last week. It assumes that the public won't pay closer and more critical attention as the election draws near. If this is, indeed, the President's calculation, it is a cynical and dispiriting one. Perhaps Bush's EQ isn't so stratospheric after all.