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October 04, 2004

Laziness vs Ignorance

First of all, a memo to Kerry supporters: This thing ain't over yet. Keep working.

About the debate: One thing that really came through to me, and I suspect on a below the radar level to many other viewers is Bush's laziness. The misperception, cultivated by Bush and his handlers over the years, is that what makes Bush average is his intelligence and demeanor. They know that, for whatever reasons, a sizable bloc of Americans resents intelligence but respects hard work. Therefor the narrative that they have worked hard to construct is that while Bush may not be the smartest guy (although they never came out and said he was dumb) his heart is in the right place, or he's a good manager -- he hires the best and brightest below him and works as some sort of referee to make the best ideas rise to the top.

What I got watching the debate though was what's really going on. Bush is a smart guy, and has been his entire life. He may have gotten some consideration getting into Yale and Harvard, but he got in nonetheless. And he's always been able to talk his way out of an obligation he wants no part of or a business deal gone awry -- he always lands on his feet and that suggests a great deal of street smarts if not book smarts. The real problem with Bush though is that he's lazy (again, at Yale and Harvard he made straight C's, not because he's dumb but because he was coasting).

It was pretty obvious to me during the debate that the real cause of Bush's poor performance is that he hasn't been challenged on any of his positions by anyone for the last 4 years. Certainly not the Congress or the press, but it seems that he doesn't even bother having debate at all among his own advisors as to what kind of course the country should take. That's dangerous and that's what came through in the debate.

Bush/Cheney has been desperate to frame this election as a choice between a Kerry who is brainy but dishonest and Bush who is dumb but honest and hard working. That's a contest that, in a just world they shouldn't be able to win but in our world it's at least possible. If it turns out that choice is between brainy yet honest and dumb and lazy, they don't have a prayer. Even if Bush is smart and lazy...good luck.

Quite frankly, Kerry doesn't have a panacea for Iraq. The problem for Bush is that Kerry might not know exactly what to do about Iraq but Bush's "more of the same" is what got us in this mess in the first place. In Karl Rove's world, someone who has no idea what to do loses to the guy who messed it up. Bush helped Kerry in the debate by showing that no matter what, he can't be bothered to admit things in Iraq aren't exactly heading in the right direction and then sit down and have a rational discussion and debate to try to fix things.

Voters now know that while neither man has the cure-all only Kerry is likely to sit down, think it out, ask the world for help and at least try to make a success out of Iraq. If the debate were a Mastercard ad, it might say "Advertising pointing out that your opponent changes his mind: $250 million. Showing America that you're stubborn and lazy and that maybe changing your mind isn't such a bad thing: Priceless."

Posted by Chris at October 4, 2004 01:37 PM

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Posted by: Brett at October 9, 2004 05:08 PM

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