Fact is, 9/11 didn’t change Bush, it just changed his rhetoric. And while the smirk now floated above terra-fightin’ and tyrant-smashin’, it was still the same smirk that had accompanied social security privatization and medicare reform. But while we all knew and understood that he had been a lightweight in the days of domestic policy — at least, we tittered, he hadn’t been an atrocious dullard like that Gore — we began pretending that something had snapped in George W. Bush and he was now a somber leader prepared to face down a time of grave danger.
But tonight the curtain lifted and Bush was back onstage with a competitor, without a teleprompter, and facing a barrage of unfamiliar and even unfriendly topics. But the way George debates — rigid adherence to message, down-home charisma, a quick grin and general geniality — was sadly unsuitable for the occasion. Past confrontations have been reasonably light, occurring in times of relative prosperity and in opposition to barely-liked incumbents whom the public liked seeing taken down a few pegs. But tonight, George was supposed to be serious, to be somber, to show himself the sort of timeless leader appropriate for such a crucial stage in history. Instead, he was like a glitchy boombox machine-gunning the phrase “mixed messages”. Where Kerry had calm presentation and logical progressions, George jumped from story to quote, personal attack to platitude (“I know how the world works”). Where he was supposed to run on a record, he instead ran on an ethic (“It’s hard work”). Where he was supposed to act dignified, he was draped over his podium. Where he was supposed to be the country’s commander, he was instead a mediocre candidate.
Tonight, for the first time in a number of years, George Bush the individual — a wholly different creature from the stage-managed president — was forced to face his times. And the truth is that George isn’t cut out for these times. He’s not a capable war leader. His moral clarity is a kind term for simplicity, not a synonym for vision. His straight talk is all there is, he’s not obscuring a capacity for complexity that he chooses to obscure for the sake of uninformed audiences. Tonight, George Bush was by turns petulant and belligerent, and by all accounts lacking. But the truth is that this is how George always was, the lie will be the conservatives who attempt to spin this into a single bad night. That Bush has turned in better performances before is all part of the problem. The Emperor, after all, has a coterie of very fine tailors. It’s just that they insist on making clothes that are far, far, too big for him.
The sad thing is that Bush/Cheney ’04 carefully constructed the rules of this engagement to put Bush in the best possible light, and he still looked bad. Imagine how he would have fared in a true debate.