Misunderestimating W.

The movie 'W.', directed by Oliver Stone, was not totally what I was expecting. That being: a movie portraying a devious and careless man who as president, would willfully lead the United States into the predicaments it faces today. Don’t get me wrong. The movie delivers plenty of laughs. But ‘W.’ also provides an objective look at a likable yet easily manipulated guy who unfortunately just happened to be in the position to be elected president.

Bush was his parents’ firstborn. He grew up fully aware that he was the grandson of a U.S. senator and a descendant of the 14^th president Franklin Pierce (mom’s side). The young Dubya in the movie is a guy that even your grandmother would love to go binge drinking with. And in 2000, George Bush was indeed the guy that half of the country’s voters wanted to have a beer with. Regrettably, they also thought that being a fun drunk is an essential qualification for heads of state.

My point is this. I, along with the rest of my left wing, liberal, dead baby joke telling friends, and probably who ever else Keith brings to the blog, have spent more time hating on George Bush than we have spent listening to indy music or shopping at whole foods. And I figured that the disaster of his presidency and its effects on the rest of the world were calculated attacks on the have-nots for the Bushes and the like to joke about during brunches overlooking the Kennebunkport Sound. But really, George Bush is not evil. He is actually awesome. He knows he is awesome. People have been telling him that he is awesome for his entire life. Now, put an ego like that into the white house.

I don’t know what factors influenced the president’s choice for vice-president and secretary of defense. But Bush was born a crowd pleaser. And, among others, the crowd advising him is Dick Cheney and until recently, Don Rumsfeld. I don’t think that Oliver Stone is asking us to take a leap of faith when he portrays those two as having an agenda. Was Bush the originator of the major and arguably bad decisions of his presidency e.g. invading Iraq? He probably thinks that he made those decisions. Yet Oliver Stone’s theory appears to be that George Bush, never happy to be a buzz kill, is mainly concerned with keeping the other guys in the room happy. What would you do if you started a new job where you were working with a bunch of your father’s friends? Whose advice would you take?

Overall, after you see ‘W.’ you will have an increased like for George Bush. Maybe not as a president, but as an awesome and fun loving guy who can walk into a barbecue and mow down on a few hotdogs while simultaneously charming the pants off of a young Laura Bush.