Bush's Humor

The other day, while giving a speech in honor of visiting United Kingdom monarch Queen Elizabeth II, President George W. Bush made a very slight gaffe when he said that she helped celebrate the U.S. bicentennial in 1776. After correcting himself, he looked sheepishly over at her, gave a little wink, and made a little joke. The whole atmosphere around was light-hearted, and the incident provoked laughter, as it should have. So, a little later, MSNBC's confirmed Bush-hater Keith Olbermann (with whom I often agree when he sticks to the issues) replayed the gaffe and jokes and treated Bush like he was either stupid, crazy, or disrespectful (or all three). My take on the incident is that it reminds me of the hilarious time that Bush stood side-to-side with a look-alike comedian in front of a crowd. First the President would say something and then his alter ego would speak his thoughts behind the words, poking fun at him. Later, I heard a conservative radio talk show host bemoaning how badly Bush had been humiliated as well as liberal Air America personality Randi Rhodes reacting in puzzlement to the performance as if Bush had lost his mind. To me, this goes to show how humorless some people are who have skewed agendas, unless of course the humor involves ridiculing their ideological opponents.

Before I go on, I need to make it clear that I am not a Bush supporter. I think the war in Iraq was a big mistake and that he is responsible for it. I also believe that his politics are that of a corporate elitist who believes, like Dan Quayle, that people are usually rich because they are better than others. He opposes trade unions and regulations designed to protect workers and the environment. He also panders to narrowly defined religious interests, I believe, for political gain rather than from personal conviction. I do think his approach to undocumented immigrants is reasonable, though, and he also has the country’s best interests at heart in fighting terrorism while shoring up defenses to prevent further attacks at home. But I also think that he is committed to fundamentally altering the ideological makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court to make it more amenable to corporate interests. Overall, I would have preferred that a Democrat (not necessarily Kerry) had beaten him in 2004. These are just my opinions, and anyone else is entitled to theirs. But now Bush is our President, for better or for worse, and sometimes it’s good to look on the good side of someone you politically oppose. And he certainly isn't the first President with a penchant for making jokes.

My parents told me once that when John F. Kennedy was President, he once played a joke on his brothers Bobby and Teddy, both already involved in politics. One day, each of the three of them were scheduled to give speeches in different parts of the country. JFK had his own speech prepared, and then he gave each of his brothers, without their knowledge, a copy of the exact same speech for them to deliver that day. Later, the news shows broadcast each of them giving the identical speech! Now that's something our current President would appreciate! And George W. Bush does have a genuine sense of humor that is respectful of others and self-deprecatory in nature. This, I believe, can’t be faked. And if some people don’t have this within themselves, then they won’t understand his humor, which, to me, is one of his stronger points.