Image Is Everything

Something that I occasionally heard during the 2004 election season was that George W. Bush is a regular guy. Unlike John Kerry, that smug liberal Yankee, Bush is a good ol’ boy from Texas. He’s the sort of fellow you could go have a beer with after work. Or that you’d invite over for a cookout on Saturday afternoon. He’s the sort of fellow who goes hunting and watches football. You know, an all-American who’s in touch with real working people in this country. He doesn’t pretend to be smart. He’s an honest man who calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. The problem with Bush’s regular guy image is just that. It’s an image. And nothing more. You cannot have grown up in a house with a father who was a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, Republican National Committee Chairman, CIA director and Vice President, and still be a regular guy. You cannot avoid service in Vietnam because your father pulls a few strings for you and still be a regular guy. You cannot own 12% of a professional baseball team and still be a regular guy. You cannot have millions of dollars in your bank account and still be a regular guy. You cannot spend nearly 20% of your presidency on vacation and still be a regular guy. Sorry. It just doesn’t work that way.