David Weinberger is enthusiastic about Governor Dean’s guest-blogging over at Larry Lessig’s blog. David asks, “Has any presidential candidate ever in history been dropped into a free-for-all quite like this? Could it be any more different than Bush’s scripted press conferences and tailored, crotch-enhancing photo opps? Democracy just got a little real-er.”
The conventional wisdom would have you believe that the day Bush 41 asked what the barcode scanner was at the grocery store was the day he lost the presidency: in that one action, he demonstrated that he was out of touch with the American people. (Politics aside, I tend to disagree witht the conclusion: he ran a lousy campaign and Clinton ran a brilliant campaign. But as Bush 41 demonstrated repeatedly in post-election interviews, he was — and is — a sincere individual with a great sense of humor and a piercing intelligence.)
With Bush 43, it’s increasingly bizarre pronouncements that demonstrate the lack of connectivity to the population. Ari: “To the people who say the WMD don’t exist, I say the burden of proof is on them to show me where they are.” Huh? Or our President: “Bring ‘em on.” or even “We had to go to war because Saddam wouldn’t let inspectors in.” (Shh — maybe someone will remind President Bush that he did let them in.)
And Governor Dean’s demonstration of connectivity — in all aspects of the campaign — is what is driving its success.
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