Thursday, July 01, 2004

Am I the only that’s amused when President Bush says that in the F9/11 trailer?

It does amuse me and here’s why. It reminds me of that moment in one of the Bush-Gore debates from 2000 when Al Gore stepped right up next to then-Governor Bush while he was answering a question. I think Al was hoping to throw W off his rhythm, to distract him from finishing his thought and thereby making W look as dumb as he was perceived to be.

Only it didn’t work that way for Al. Instead, W merely paused, nodded coolly at Al, and without even moving a step away and with Al in his personal space, continued his response. It was brilliant. He completely dismissed the intruder and moved ahead with purpose and with barely a pause in stride.

I get that same thing from that clip from the movie trailer. The press is hounding him about the war on terror while he’s trying to play golf. Not that the war isn’t important to the President, it is. But every reasonable person knows that everyone needs a break from stressful situations (I think we can all agree that the American Presidency is probably the most stressful job, no?), so the President was playing a round of golf. He answers their pestering questions, which are probably repeated ad nauseum because they didn’t like his answers, until he reached the point where he was done with them and was ready to move on. “Now, watch this drive,” he said dismissively. It cracks me up every time I see it.