Prometheus 6

Bush likability trumping record
By Dante Chinni

…Deficits from surpluses? Botched life-and-death decisions? CEOs have been fired for much less. So seeing as we're all good, business-savvy board members of America Inc., why does the president enjoy a lead in the polls? Because, in the end, for all the chatter about how we want to run government like a business, many of us don't want it to.

For many Americans it isn't really the Bush record or policies that matter, it's that great equalizer: the Bush persona. Even when people don't agree with the president, they often say they believe he's sincere. And in a world full of pseudo-events, pseudo-people, and even pseudo-places, that can be pretty compelling.

Many voters have made the decision that, after looking at the options, they don't mind seeing Mr. Bush's face staring back at them from the front page of the newspaper every day through 2008. He may be wrong, sometimes on serious things, but he believes he's doing the right thing and he follows his heart. And in troubled times they find that refreshing. In other words, they simply like him - or at least the image of him as reflected in the media. It's hard to know someone you have never met.

That's not exactly news. Bush's likability is well known. What's interesting is that, despite all the talk, if Bush gets reelected it won't really be the triumph of business culture at all. It will mean that early 21st-century American politics follows the rules of the country's other dominant culture: the culture of celebrity.

Actually, Republicans have stumbled onto something more important (because it's more fundamental) than likeability—predictability.

We don't actually deal with the real planet, you see. We deal with the network of expectations in our head. Much of what we humans do on a systemic level is about coercing real world events to match the models in our heads. We really need things to behave in orderly fashion, we need to feel we understand what that order is , in order to decide what to do next.

I think the Bushistas feel the "likeable guy" thing may be wearing thin. You can tell because they no longer present him as a guy you could have a beer at the backyard barbecue with. Now he's stable, consistent.

But do you really want a President that consistently ignores the judgment of his intelligence reports? That attacks nations that are no threat to us? That turns world opinion against us? That transforms hostile but ineffective nations into terrorist generators? That give corporations a break every time they do something for YOU in the name of "balance"? That ignores impartial scientists because he doesn't like the objective results of their research? That supports constitutional amendments to reduce the rights of the citizenry? That budget the nation the way foolish consumers budget their household (it's not whether we can afford it, it's whether we can afford the payments this month)?

Consistency is only good if you're not consistently wrong.

If I were a Kerry guy (as opposed to an anti-Bush guy) I'd talk about how Kerry consistently hears all sides of an issue, consistently works to understand what it is he's making decisions about. I'd mention that he always reviews the outcome of his decisions and consistently adjusts them to fit the needs of the people, which Bush's adjustments have consistently favored corporations and the obscenely wealthy.

Something like that.