http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4271853/(snip)
Despite a few fine speeches to Congress, he
has never fully inhabited the role of president of the United States. He still often seems to be impersonating a commander in chief. When he goes off script, as he did during the "Meet the Press" interview, he looks uncomfortable and out of his depth (which is why he has had fewer press conferences than any other modern president). Bush acts on instinct and faith, not facts and information. That makes him resolute but not judicious, bold but not wise.
(snip)
Bush began by modeling himself on his father, entering the oil business and running for Congress. But early on, he established a pattern of barely qualifying instead of excelling, assuming that no one would notice the difference. Bush thought that by enlisting in the National Guard, he could get the best of both worlds—credit for service and the freedom to do what he wanted at home. He could be a hawk without having to face the risk of being killed. Accountability—for not showing up for his flight physical, squandering $100,000 in taxpayer-funded training—was for other people.
hirty years later, not much has changed. Bush put his war and tax cut on a credit card for someone else to pay off. And there's something callow and cavalier about "playing dress-up on an aircraft carrier" (Kerry's words)—impersonating a soldier when you've sent more than 500 real ones to die fighting a country that didn't pose a clear threat to America. The president apparently believes that accountability is like that dental work he had done on the Alabama base, a hardship to endure once or twice a year but hardly the real substance of democracy.
(snip)