Playing to the crowd

Pardon me as I fall off the wagon.

What struck me about Bush's speech last night is how it carried not only lack of facts, but how forgetful it was at current history. He invoked John F. Kennedy's name and words, obviously alluding to the Cuban Missile Crisis, an event which took place 40 years ago this month and one which Kennedy deftly diffused without using force. Kennedy provided proof to the American public that the Soviets were making nuclear inroads into Cuba, installing missile bases 90 miles away from Florida. Plus, Kennedy had circles around him supporting and opposing striking Cuba, something I don't imagine Bush has with Iraq.

Bush, on the other hand, had no direct proof to share with the class. Perhaps that's why Team Bush was fine with the 30 Minutes of Hate not being covered by the major TV networks. Bush, being the CEO president, could have used this opportunity to have a PowerPoint demonstration, complete with charts and maps showing what "intelligence" the White House has. Bush, using a laser pointer and a laptop, could treat the country like shareholders, showing what the business plan is for America, Inc., and why we need to make a hostile takeover of Iraq. I've spent little time in the private sector, but I do know executives, especially those with a weak command of the language, love to use PowerPoint for a showy business meeting. I would have liked to seen a picture of the unmanned aircrafts that Bush claims Saddam Hussein has ready to fly over America, dropping chemical or biological payloads. We are an very visual audience, Mr. Bush. You can't promise Godzilla and not show the lizard.

Perhaps he wanted to go for radio, opting for some faux-FDR "fireside chat" approach. That, too, has it's problems, as Bush exposed. FDR and Kennedy were dynamic speakers, able to transfix an audience. Bush was a dead fish under the spotlights, hardly making a case for war. He merely repeated memes that have been belched out by other GOP operatives in his "four-words-at-a-time" delivery method, jerking and rambling thoughts and sound bites all over the road. Plus, the Cincinnati locale where Bush grasped at war straws had a strange acoustic feel which made Bush (from my car radio) sound as if he was on speakerphone, signaling maybe he was taking dictation from Cheney, who was feeding lines to Bush from his corporately-funded Undisclosed Location.

And then there's the use of a crowd during an address to the nation, something a president doesn't use unless he's giving the State of the Union or at a party convention. Bush, however, used a live audience as he made his war chant a little louder last night. It's a very cynical state of affairs when a President has to revert to addressing the nation with cheers of a supportive audience. It's image-making to the most grotesque degree, rah-rahing for war on live television and preaching to a GOP-friendly crowd for love.