Wasn’t the Sept. 30 debate supposed to be the one that played to the strengths of the president? Foreign policy, in general, and homeland security, in particular, according to all the polls, are the areas where Bush supposedly commands the high ground. That $185 million spin machine came crashing down on the stage in Coral Gables.
How would I describe the president that night? Shrill. Defensive. Angry, very angry. Repetitive. Uninformed. Outmatched. Unprepared. Hesitant. One half hour into the debate, Bush lost his temper and spent the remaining hour looking as though he just swallowed a lemon.
We are seeing what happens when you surround yourself with yes-men. Sen. John Kerry put the issues to Bush clearly, eloquently and with devastating effect. Bush reacted like a man who has never had anyone tell him anything other than “Good job, sir.”
This is what happens when you have to defend your record as president, something that no one in the media has managed to force Bush to do. On that Thursday night, Bush faced a reckoning at the hands of a man who was a prosecuting attorney and a real war hero.
This was not a Bush meltdown. It was an exposure. George W. Bush was required to speak for 90 minutes without having the questions beforehand, facing an opponent far less pliable than the national press corps. The man he has always been, stripped of the hero-worship veneer, was there for all to see.
Bill Baker Di Giulio, Bowdoin
Send questions/comments to the editors.
