Stay Off My Lawn!

As usual, Peggy was dead-on in yesterday's column. She expertly identified why this President seems so incapable of penetrating to reach Americans when speaking. She says:

One reason is that you don't have to listen to get a sense of what's going on. He does not appear to rethink things based on new data. You don't have to tune in to see how he's shifting emphasis to address a trend, or tacking to accommodate new winds. For him there is no new data, only determination.

He repeats old arguments because he believes they are right, because he has no choice--in for a penny, in for a pound--and because his people believe in the dogma of the magic of repetition: Say it, say it, to break through the clutter.

And while I would agree that this is the reason Bush doesn't reach the average american anymore, Peggy doesn't stop there. No, no, she points out why Republicans don't listen anymore:

Pundits and historians call Mr. Bush polarizing--and he is, but in some unusual ways. For one thing, he's not trying to polarize. He is not saying, "My team is for less government, your team is for more--my team, stand with me!"

Mr. Bush has muddied what his team stands for. He has made it all come down to him--not to philosophy but to him and his certitudes.

What is polarizing about him is the response he elicits from Americans just by being himself. They have deep questions about him, even as he is vivid to them.

That's it. Quite simply, I have no idea if I want to be on his team. Thus, I tune him out.