Presidential Stature

I had the interesting opportunity to watch the debate with a person who is just learning English and is not as fluent as some other bilingual friends of mine. What that meant was the body language of Bush and Kerry were all the more revealing.

My friend wondered why Bush looked so apologetic and defensive, uncomfortable and squirmy.

It felt a bit like this for me too -- Abe Lincoln debating Alfred E. Newman -- and Bush's "What Me Worry?" stance was not very winning.

We discussed their accents a great deal too. Kerry is so Boston and Harvardian (despite being a Yalie) and Bush's "good ole boy" accent is perhaps the thing I find so annoying about the president. After destroying the economy for the working class and the middle class, this phoney-baloney populist "I'm just a country boy like you all" accent comes off as so totally disingenuous -- who's he kidding? He's as much as or more of an elitist than Kerry. Just read about his tax cuts if you want to know who his good old boy friends are -- corporate billionaires. Do they really sit around with a piece of straw in their teeth, chewing tobaccy, fishing for big mouth bass all day? I think not.

Sometimes I wonder if behind closed doors Bush actually sounds like Ted Kennedy. Now that's an interesting fantasy.

The debate to watch will be Edwards the teenager vs. Cheney the old corporate fat cat next week. I can't wait for that.