George Bush & His Malapropisms

By Tara Overzat

My boyfriend and I had long talked about whether Pres. George W. Bush had suffered a stroke sometime early on in his presidency. He had been an artful speaker as Governor of Texas, fast on the draw. As president those skills began to wane considerably. I never once believed he was as dumb as the media liked to portray him. If not a stroke, maybe belated effects of his earlier alcoholism had hit him hard and at a bad time.

Much like the people surrounding FDR kept the public from knowing he was in a wheelchair, Bush’s team did an artful job of letting the public believe this was just President Bush’s down-home Texas personality shining through. People in Texas, the Bush camp implied, maybe talk a little plainer and a  little slower. Bush, the explanation went, was an Everyman.

The video below is a side by side comparison of Bush’s gubernatorial debate in Texas in 1994 and a later debate in 2004. The difference in speech is striking.

Pre-senile dementia? Without all the facts, it’s a good enough diagnosis as any. Presidents, we should bare in mind, are always surrounded by a strong team, and when you elect a President, you never get just one person in office. Each time you vote you are electing a team of people with a common set of goals in mind. The good news about this is that no matter what flaws the president has (and they all have multiple problems, they are human) he is not the only person in charge.