Stupidity is the new red. Everybody is doing it ““ even our
recently re-elected President Dubya is pulling a Jessica Simpson on
us. He’s playing dumb and we love it. And just like our
Chicken-of-the-Sea queen, he’s profiting.
Many argue it’s what secured him the win on the national
level. I have to admit, after watching and listening to enough of
President Bush, even I start to feel nostalgic for simple, good
ol’ Southern comfort.
Four years ago, I would have argued until my face turned blue
that what you see is what you get with Bush. But when campaigning
began for this election year, I received a little surprise. The man
I had learned to write off as an idiot was speaking more
coherently, and displaying signs of ““ dare I say ““
intelligence.
He had learned some polysyllabic words, and his managing team
had taught him some (albeit skewed) history lessons. And while
everybody with whom I was watching the first presidential debate
laughed as he indignantly told Jim Lehrer, “Of course
we’re after Saddam Hussein ““ I mean bin Laden,” I
started to wonder if he wasn’t really having the last laugh
at our expense.
I’m not suggesting that our president has the type of
critical intellect to appreciate the finer nuances of life.
It’s obvious that he still sees the world colored through the
lens of sheltered, small-town Christian America. He’s still
likely to chase after terrorists named “Mohammed
Jones.” Only Bush would waste taxpayers’ money trying
to find the Jones’ evil twins, Mohammed and family.
Instead, what’s changed is his self-realization that he
emanates this culture of “authentic” America. While he
started his White House career with a lot of blank stares and
confused smiles, now you’re more likely to find him in a
jocular mood as he plays up his Average Joe persona.
I guess I didn’t give him enough credit. Though he came
into the job a little green around the gills, he was quickly thrust
into situations that would have hardened any new president. Slowly,
without having his competition notice, he’s built an
interpersonal relationship with the country that has made him a
force to be reckoned with.
Newsweek reports that his campaign managers worked to foster
“one of his greatest election assets ““ his
likeability.” They celebrated this unthreatening
characteristic by calling themselves the “Strategery
Department,” a pun on one of the president’s
mispronounced words. Bush himself “boasted” to the
Newsweek journalists about never reading newspapers (which actually
explains a lot), and he often unabashedly jokes as he did in the
third presidential debate about his own inability to communicate in
his native language.
It’s almost like we have our own Tarzan of the United
States in the Oval Office. On issues, he’s strong,
determined, primitive, and understands the world in terms of black
and white, good versus evil.
The election tells us that to the Bushies it’s a fresh
change of pace from stale intellectuals with their complex and
difficult subtleties. It makes him easy to relate to, and the world
easy to live in, no matter the cost.
The recent elections and the shock that Democrats expressed at
his win worries me. To make matters worse, when I tried to
articulate this suspicion I had about Bush, I was quickly mistaken
as a closet Republican.
I can see why people would find it so hard to believe my theory.
It’s easy to underestimate your opponent after having
little-to-no respect for him for four years. But the fact is that
Bush won the general election ““ a very telling sign for
American culture today.
In 2000, Bush initially seemed not to notice that he
didn’t represent the entire nation with his GOP beliefs
““ evident in how he spoke to and ran the country as if he had
actually been voted in unanimously by the people. In the same way,
those of us fighting for “anyone but Bush” forgot that
UCLA’s liberal tilt does not represent the nation.
It would behoove us to notice that Bush played his cards right,
and that it seems he did so deliberately. Hopefully, Democrats take
note of this and pick someone with a candidly engaging nature for
2008. Until then, we’re a country run by an ape-man.
I can only hope that the president will beat his chest less and
instead attempt to learn the languages of civilization. But
don’t let his exterior look fool you either ““
there’s a gleam in his eye suggesting he’s not as
primitive as he lets himself seem.
Hashem is a third-year English and sociology student. She is
well versed in both the languages of civilization and
chest-beating, and encourages you to contact her for lessons at
nhashem@media.ucla.edu.