Popping the Bubble

With his approval ratings swirling down a deeper and darker hole every day, president Bush’s handlers have decided to address at least one perceived weakness in his persona: his lack of outside input. Meeting and talking to live audiences is “an innovation for a leader who until recently stuck to scripted meetings with screened audiences”. His handlers feel that, even in a non-election settings, he needs to “show he is not afraid of criticism.” It’s the first time in five years that he has stooped to doing so. As the article, Bush Faces Rare Audience Challenge in N.C. goes on to note, Bush met with somewhat less than the out-and-out adulation to which he’s become accustomed.

Several evening ago, one Harry Taylor got to address Bush:

“You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that,“ Taylor told him. “But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. … I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration.”

Eloquent. Polite. Succinct. More importantly, it’s the honest expression of the opinion of a very centric, objective view of the last five years. However, “[m]any in the audience booed.” Either the 34% that still support Bush are quite loud or most of the audience were hand-chosen staunch supporters. Bush used the opportunity to appear big-hearted and noble in his acceptance of critique, but did not, of course, apologize. Neither did he adjust his rhetoric in any way, babbling his typical mish-mash of war, executive power and terrorism to justify his actions.

Still … it must have been pretty cool for Harry Taylor. The next big step is to hear that Bush’s crew is having trouble filling an auditorium with supporters; then we’ll know we have him on the run.