Look at the situation:
-He's been in hiding for his whole second term, and has accomplished very little
-Gas is approachiong 3 dollars a gallon in many areas (say what you want about how much fault can be assesed to the president here...but it it was 75 cents a gallon Bush would take credit)
-Iraq is enduring one of its worst months, with the constitution deadline come and gone and a high amount of casuaties
-John Roberts isn't the pretty-boy he was a month ago (but this still shouldn't be a major issue)
-John Bolton's nomination is opposed by about 75% of americans (do a google news search of john bolton)
...depite all this...Bush is still exceedingly popular.
I don't like him at all but I am impressed.
Gifted? Or just lucky? I haven't been able to figure that out either. For example, what makes a guy like me, with a 82% philosophical overlap with Kerry, according to SelectSmart.com, and a 19% philosophical overlap with Bush support Bush. In any case, I think you're giving the GOP too much credit for being good guys and not enough credit to the Democrats for being complete buffoons. Either one would give Bush a re-election victory and continued support over his opposition in congress. Hard to say which effect is greater, really. But I don't think you can conclude based on the evidence you present that he's a gifted politician, only that he had the good luck to serve at a time when nationalist fervor peaked as a result of unfortunate terrorist attacks, and at a time when the opposition party has become a parody.
That, and I still like his FU attitude and cocky swagger.
I mean, c'mon, compare these statements:
"You may infer from my previous testimony, Mr. Speaker, that I did not have sex with that woman as I understood the term to be defined."
and
"Well, I did smoke, but I didn't inhale."
with
"That guy's a major-league asshole."
and
"I don't think I really need to answer that question."
Seriously, and you guys wonder why Bush is so popular? He's a god, man.
