A second look at W.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 by Dave Winer.

Something Oliver Stone said about W. got me thinking. 

"I really, in my heart, think that this guy's policies are going to be around for a long time. And my grandchildren are going to be talking about this guy Bush like the way they talk about Teddy Roosevelt, the way they talk about Lincoln, the way they talk about Washington. I think he's had monumental impact on the future of this country." 

Weird. I wonder what he means. I don't think he's right, but he did get me thinking, as I said. 

Even if W wasn't a great President, he did become President and that's not easy to do as so many can testify. What he had down, what he knew how to do, was how to get elected President. Because:  

1. He has good genes, no matter how dumb you may think he is, he isn't.  

2. He was deeply involved with his father's losing 1992 campaign (not just according to Stone). 

3. He loved his father and sought his approval, as all sons do, but didn't feel the love coming back. 

So he did what he knew how to do, arranged it so he would run for President. After winning, he had no clue how to be President or even what it meant. I bet his father didn't take him into his confidence when he was in office. And while his father wasn't a great campaigner, he did really know to be President, he had been around the office for 20 years before he occupied it, as did many of the people he brought in with him. 

Another observation, some based on intuition, and other parts based on observation of the 2008 campaign. While Bush II probably couldn't have done it without Karl Rove, it seems equally true that Rove needed Bush to win. But Rove may have found his new protege, who's getting broken in on the campaign trial, Sarah Palin, as Bush II was broken in by his father. That's the nightmare waiting for us should Obama win, which of course is nothing compared to the nightmare that awaits us if he loses.