An American President shielded from the reality of the people he governs...

I don't know...maybe it is just me...but aren't you getting pretty sick and tired of OUR PRESIDENT only speaking in front of uniformed members of the armed forces or hand picked crowds of loyal supporters who are given scripts in support of him to be memorized and regurgitated as part of the "spontaneous conversation"?

I am actually serious here...of all the public speeches he has given since the start of the war in Iraq...or heck, even before that, let's go all the way back to right after he got "elected" the first time...how many times has he spoken in front of a crowd that actually reflected the American Public? Or done a press conference where he hadn't successfully cowed the press into softballing him by threatening to deny access? Remember Helen Thomas?

Wouldn't you rather have HER in the press room than a gay male prostitute with no journalism credentials tossing out spin points for the President's agenda?

I don't hate the Bush, in spite of the fact that Hannity will tell you over and over again that anyone who doesn't agree with Bush 100% must hate the president to the point of mental illness and obsession, or is just a terrorist in disguise. I really don't hate Bush, but I don't respect him at all.

I would, however, in spite of all disagreement, respect him far more if he gave a speech like the one he gave in Alaska to an audience that wasn't on a military base, who are duty bound to be respectful and applaud in part to keep their own moral up in an effort to convince themselves that their lives aren't being wasted by the man they call Commander-in-Chief.

Imagine a George Bush who said exactly the same thing to an audience for which there were no "free speech zones" for protesters and the crowd looked like this:

• Only 37% of the audience thought he was doing a good job
  
• Only 48% approved of his handling of terrorism
  
• Only 37% thought he was doing a good job on foreign affairs and the economy
  
• Only 35% thought he was correctly handling the situation in Iraq
  
• Only 26% thought he was doing a good job on controlling federal spending and illegal immigration
  
• Only 46% trusted him
  
• Only 43% thought he was good at governing...probably the same 43% that "share" his values
  
• Only 5% of them thought things were going very well...with 50% thinking things are going very badly
  
• Only 34% of the audience thought things would be better if Republicans controlled congress
  
• If 49% of the audience thought he was a weak president and 2% were still sitting on the fence on that issue. (A confusing question, because let's face it...you can't be too weak if you're able to screw so much up in only 5 years....and a lot of people think he's weak because he's "bowing down" to the Democrats. This question really speaks to the absurdist drama we've found ourselves in since 2000.)
  
• Only 27% in the audience like him a lot, while 33% really dislike him a lot
  
• Only 36% think Cheney is doing a good job (good thing he didn't bring him along)
  
• Only 34% think Cheny has given George good advice
  
• Only 34% would vote for him today if an election were held
  
• Only 9% of them expects to vote for a Republican who agrees with Bush in the 2006 elections...though to be fair, the majority (33%) would vote for a Repulican who disagreed with Bush. Now that's a tough crowd.
  
• 48% of them say they trust Bill Clinton more than George Bush
  
• 75% of the Republican leaners in the audience were NOT donors to Republican candidates, and 72% of the Democrat leaners hadn't given any money to Democrat candidates....just a bunch of Joe Schmoes who think the politicians get enough money from us when they cash their paychecks.
  
• 74% think that the US is torturing people and only 38% of them think that's a good idea

If, just once, Bush faced a crowd like that...one which actually reflected the reality of the nation he governs...I'd respect him. After all, aren't we the ones he has to convince? Or maybe he just doesn't give a damn...in which case, I'd like to hear him at least say that.

Now, you can say "who cares about polls?" but if you don't care what the American people think--and you find out by polling them--then what kind of democracy are our soldiers dying to protect? Do we really want to spread democracy around the world if this is what George W. Bush thinks democracy is? Corruption without accountability, devotion to secrecy, deliberate misrepresentation, and total indifference to the will of the people who elected him?

Never mind the issue of his efforts to create a legal context for the use of torture and the use of chemical weapons in an effort to rid the world of a madman who might use chemical weapons and tortured people. WTF?

The poll numbers matter because they reflect the intelligent and moral position of the American People...and they ought to make you wonder how, with poll numbers like this, he got elected a second time. Thank you Diebold, proving again American Democracy is the best that money can buy.

Further Reading:

• Republicans Want Answers, Too By Dan Froomkin, Special to washingtonpost.com
  
• Bush's job approval, trust factor drop to record lows in poll
  
• American attitudes on Iraq similar to Vietnam era
  
• Behind the topsy-turvy turn in Bush's Iraq poll numbers
  
• Senate votes to ban torture of terrorism detainees.