PRESIDENTIAL M&Ms

"Human suffering should preempt commercial interest."
-President Bush on Africa
"he’s curious and quick."
-Bob Geldof on President Bush

One of the more frustrating things about being a supporter of President Bush (and, despite my disagreements with him over the years, I still am) is that he's so terrible at the public aspects of his job. The bulk of the President's job is reaching out to the people to represent and define the policies and intents of the United States, and while a decent man who apparently is very capable in one-on-one conversations, President Bush is the worst public speaker I've ever seen in a politician.

Bob "Live Aid" Geldof agrees, and is trying to break through that frustration to help the President reach people with his African policies and efforts. On Air Force One, he said this to the president in response to a question:

"That's right. It's called marketing. Something you obviously have no clue about or else I wouldn't have to be here telling people your Africa story."

I suspect that like me, President Bush just doesn't care for the selling part of his work, he just has a job to do and wants to do it. Like me, he wants to be known and successful (if that comes) on his own merits and efforts, on the quality of his work, not on the effort of his publicity machine and marketing. There's a lot of awful stuff out there with great marketing campaigns, things that succeed far beyond their quality or significance. Yet the job requires that effort, and this is President Bush's biggest failure: selling his points to the public.

Sure, he's up against a hostile press, they don't just view him with suspicion like they do all politicians (even their own guys), the press is actively hostile toward President Bush and even works to undermine him at times. Bob Geldof goes on with his concerns about this particular aspect of the President's work:

So why doesn't America know about this? "I tried to tell them. But the press weren't much interested," says Bush. It's half true. There are always a couple of lines in the State of the Union, but not enough so that anyone noticed, and the press really isn't interested. For them, like America itself, Africa is a continent of which little is known save the odd horror.

It is true that most Americans don't care that much about other nations and it is true that Africa seems to be almost deliberately self destructive and filled with ghastly events, but there's more to it than the press not wanting to talk about the dark continent. They don't like President Bush, they don't like Republicans, and they're disinclined to report anything positive about either one. So even when President Bush has a speech and a press conference specificially about the African efforts, nothing much comes of it.

Mr Geldof is no fan of President Bush, but he's singularly concerned about Africa's suffering and sees an ally in the man. As Ed Morrissey at the Captain's Quarters points out:

Geldof doesn't pull punches where he disagrees with Bush. In fact, he spends most of the article outlining his disagreements. However, he also paints a picture of a man of intellect and deep belief, and one who has been shortchanged by the media, at least on Africa. He also understands that while he disagrees with Bush on many policies, Bush is motivated by his own sense of what is right.

Commenters at the Captain's Quarters discussed this story:

Bush has been the most radical president of my lifetime; for better and for worse.

Obama's cries for "change" are anti-climatic after this presidency.
-by mylegsareswollen


The Bush White House Press operation was uneven at best, lurching from a reasonably competent Ari Fleischer to the stuttering, bumbling Scott McClellan. I've always believed that the President and his Administration had a compelling story to tell, but that it was never told.

This President has disappointed me many times, but I've never doubted his personal integrity, his courage, his good intentions, and his great heart.
-by Quickjustice


Quite frankly, I think George Bush has the same problem his father did. He thinks because he does the right thing and gets a good result, that's enough. Unfortunately, in this day and age, and given a media reflexively hostile to Republicans, a Republican president has to take the time to get his message out. That's part of the governing process today. Now what Bush should have done was to hire Clintoon to do his marketing. That man was on the air, morning, noon, and night, trumpeting, both real and imaginary accomplishments.
-by TJM


Clearly Geldof has been bought off by the Bushitler machine.
-by hunter_123


Or maybe just an intelligent liberal that has the courage to put forth their true feelings.
-by


Exactly right-an "intelligent liberal" is one who is not afraid of other peoples' ideas, no matter how radical they may seem. In past decades, like in the 1960s, there were a lot of these people. Sadly, they now seem to be in the minority. If you go to some of the more radical leftist sites like Democrat Underground, only one point of view is allowed, or you get tombstoned. I'm convinced that a lot of that is a function of the relatively youthful age of many of that site's posters.
-by Del_Delmonte


I remember reading once that Herbert Hoover put together a huge humanitarian aid effort to feed Europeans during WW1. He was not a politician at the time and for many people in Europe it was their first dealings with the US. On one Polish man was said to say years later that the US had saved him three times. The first time was then when he was a very small child and was starving. He said he was given food, among the foodstuff was a can of meat with the inscription, A gift from the American people. He said he knew then and there that was something exceptional about America.
-by terrye

In Africa, as I've noted before, the perspective on President Bush is a bit different than in, say, Western Europe or the US press. Here's just one more anecdote from Bob Geldof:

At our hotel in Ghana, the porter carrying my bag said they had thrown out all the other guests because "the President of the World was coming."

I highly recommend reading the Time Magazine article to everyone, everywhere because not only does it highlight critical aspects of what the US is trying to do to help Africa, it gives a view and perspective on President Bush that only people who speak to him personally see. He's the same person, but more comfortable, at ease, and even charming than his public persona. Geldof's interview goes all over the place, including how the presidential laundry is handled on the road (they do it at hotels) and what presidential M&Ms are like.

In the end, President Bush will be viewed far more positively and with far more honor and respect than he is today, a trait President Truman was characterized by. They share a lot of traits: southern men of no-nonsense who stick to their principles and do what they believe is right and just in the face of all criticism. After eight years of President Clinton, that's still refreshing to me, and in today's culture, that's pretty radical, all right.

President Bush, Africa, Bob Geldof