There is an old Brady Bunch episode in which Greg is plucked out of obscurity by a talent scout who says she is going to make him a rock star. It turns out his singing ability didn't attract her - a production studio would make Greg's voice sound however she wanted - but he had the right physique for the glittering costume.
This is how George Bush got to be president. He was the perfect front man for the corporate interests and right-wing ideologues who were looking for a guy who was both electable and malleable.
Like Greg, he fit the suit.
(snip)
But as the war in Iraq continues to go badly, sending back news of a daily casualty count, Bush's common-touch artifice is beginning to wear thinner than the backside of his Crawford jeans. Showing through is the real Bush, his swaggering arrogance, unidimensional understanding of issues, congenital lack of sympathy and intense pique at challenging questions.
(snip)
Despite this manipulation, the polls show that the public is growing restive. Bush's distance is looking less presidential and more bumbling; and the oligarchs are getting nervous. They desperately want Bush around another term for more tax breaks, environmental giveaways, federal judges who will ignore the Constitution, and privatization of government. But they might have chosen the wrong titular head. Bush doesn't have the capacity to speak persuasively to the public about anything, never mind the war he and the neocons around him started - a failing that might prove his downfall. When the best Bush can come up with in response to the guerrilla tactics killing American troops by the dozens is "Bring 'em on!" it is clear he lacks any deftness.
As we enter the election year, that suit is starting to hang.
more…
http://sptimes.com/2003/11/09/Columns/Filling_a_suit_isn_t_.shtml
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