One comes across as confident, completely on top of his subject, responds to questions readily, knows where’ he’s going. The other remains on autocue, hasn’t (as far as I know) taken direct questions and is trying to look confident and in charge.
Am I reading them wrongly ?
Is it too soon to judge their respective ‘crisis management’ skills ?
Is Powell leading and Bush following in co-ordinating the response ?
I think so. Yes. No.
:shrug: YMMV, of course, but I think Bush has done very well. He’s come across as confident, calm, and assured, as well as dedicated to recovery and pursuit of justice. You’re right that he’s not answering all questions . . . but neither is Powell, really.
Perhaps it’s that in a situation like this, we expect to see a statesman, not a friend. Bush was elected as our buddy–Powell is a statesman.
Given how Powell has been curtailed ever since he joined Bush’s cabinet (see last week’s issue of Time magazine for the cover story), I can’t imagine him even getting enough authority in this mess to really make a big difference.
Neither, actually. The U.S. is managed by Vice-President Cheney and a nice man by the name of Karl Rove. 
I guess I saw a different Bush last night. He came across as stiff and uncomfortable. The text of the speach was OK, but the delivery was unconvincing. More like a mediocre cold reading than Bush speaking to us about HIS thoughts, and HIS intentions.
You would think that after an even this horrid he would drop the script and just TALK to us. Instead we got a talking head that seemed to be reciting someone else’s words. I’m left wondering. Is Bush really in charge and he just doesn’t have the personality necessary to show it on camera? Or is he really as lost as he appears.
Today, Ari Flesher held a news conference where he said essentially nothing over and over: That the reason Bush was out of the White House for so long yesterday was because they had ‘real and credible’ evidence that Air Force One was a target.
Now, it had never occurred to me until just then that there was anything out of the ordinary in taking Bush to a command center in Nebraska. Cheney happened to be in the White House, so of course Bush was taken somewhere else. Safer to have the two of them in different places. I figured that this was SOP.
But Ari stood in front of the press for at least 20 minutes and said NOTHING other than repeating the phrase ‘real and credible’ and ‘threat to AF1’ about 30 times and refusing to give any information, and I began to wonder. “What is he here for if he doesn’t have anything to say?”. Then I got it: this is spin! Ari’s afraid that the President didn’t look presidential enough yesterday, and He’s doing damage control!!.
What a low life, tens of thousands of people die, and the pres is worried about his image. Welcome to politics in the 21st century…
I saw Bush just as you did, Tejota.
…and we’re just as bad, as is proved by this very thread. 
Well, one would hope the President would listen to his Secretary of State re international affairs. But, make no mistake, it is GW who will make the call. And personally I could give a rat’s ass if the guy is articulate, just as long as he makes the right decision.
Or perhaps he had kind of a long and stressful day, and frankly had better things to do than sit on TV and not give any information himself.
You people have no idea what Bush has been up to, what he’s planning, what his motives are, or anything, yet you just sit around waiting for anything to judge him on.
I agree with waterj. The president isn’t some figurehead or a public speaker. He hires people for that purpose. He’s the head of the executive branch of the United States’ government. As such, he surely had more things to occupy himself with than posturing.
He said he will bear no distinction between terrorists and those who harbor them; with that alone I think it is clear he’s busy figureing out how to command the military, sitting with cabinet members or other advisors, maybe talking with world leaders, and generally acting in his capacity for his position.
I swear, though I’m no Bush supporter, if the guy singlehandedly cured cancer someone would bash him for neglecting AIDS. He’s got more important things to do than play a president on TV: he’s got to be one.
Tony Blair and Rudolph Guiliani both did wonderful jobs of rising to the occasion.
I am not going to get into whether Bush is doing well or not.
Bush does not inspire confidence in me. He does the exact opposite actually.
Colin Powell makes me feel better in this sort of situation. He does inspire confidence in me.
Take that as you will.
For better or worse I have been wishing for Clinton because he does inspire confidence in me.
Erek
Perhaps Bush is in shock. After all, he’s a newbie at this.
Colin Powell is used to this, well, at least he’s BEEN through war. Bush is used to being governor, not up to dealing with something of this magnitude.
I just want to say in case this is in danger of going off the rails that I’m primarily interested in President Bush’s Leadership skills under extreme pressure and the quality of his judgements. Whether we like it or not, he is new to the job and this type of pressure and, at this stage, teevee is about all the public has at hand to gauge how he is managing.
IMHO, how he comes across in broadcasts is important.
FWIW, I suspect his head was swimming yesterday although he looked steadier today.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by december *
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I should probably clarify that I was calling Ari the low-life for his playing spin-the-pres today. I’d like to believe that he was acting in default mode rather than obeying explict instructions to spin.
Let’s see… The administration is worried about the morale of the citizenry, so they send an administration official out to reassure them, and that makes that official a ‘low-life’?
You need a serious re-calibration of your perspective, buddy.
You call it concern about morale. That’s not what I saw and not the words I used to describe it. If you want to criticize, then at least do it for something I actually said.
Here’s a letter I just sent to the Times. Unfortunately, I do not believe that yesterday’s editorials are available on the net.
I personally have very little confidence in Bush, but I do feel it is time to rally behind the president and hope he has the wisdom (or at least advisors with wisdom) to deal effectively with this threat. Clearly Clinton blew it with his pinprick cruise missle attacks on Afghanistan back in 1998.
I suspect Bush is still in charge, though heavily advised by folks like Powell and Cheney (Rove a NICE guy though, you must be kidding!). I have a great deal of confidence in both of them to deal effectively with this situation (though I disagree with Cheney on most of his views on policy, this is one area he has experience in).
As to how Bush appeared, no one ever said the dood ain’t stiff. I think Powell is certainly the most capable overall of the two in all arenas. Were he to essentially to take over altogether for the duration of the crisis I would breathe a sigh of relief. But I will give Bush a chance. I don’t think he has made any misteps yet. Only time will tell how effectively he deals with this crisis. And to be fair, this sort of even would tax all but the best of presidents.