Cynical, moi?
Here’s something that has brought out my cynical streak. From USNews.com:
Maybe it was the influence of his wife, Laura, a former librarian, or his mother, Barbara, a longtime promoter of literacy. Or perhaps he was just eager to dispel his image as an intellectual lightweight. But President Bush now wants it known that he is a man of letters. In fact, Bush has entered a book-reading competition with Karl Rove, his political adviser. White House aides say the president has read 60 books so far this year (while the brainy Rove, to Bush’s competitive delight, has racked up only 50). The commander in chief delved into three volumes in August alone-two on Abraham Lincoln and, more surprising for a man of unambiguous convictions, The Stranger, Albert Camus’s existential tale of murder and alienation.
Bush’s critics aren’t buying. A man who so regularly mangles the English language and seems to disdain complexity couldn’t possibly be so cerebral, they argue. But portraying Bush as a voracious reader is part of an ongoing White House campaign to restore what a senior adviser calls “gravitas” to the Bush persona. He certainly needs something. Only about 34 percent of Americans approve of his job performance-and 58 percent say Bush “seems in over his head,” according to Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg. If nothing changes, the president could be a major liability for Republicans in November’s congressional elections.
Far be it from me to cast aspersions on the verisimilitude of Messrs G Bush and K Rove and their press operation. But, as someone that has so far read 38 books this year, a lot of them not particularly highbrow, and has struggled to find the time to do it, I would just like to enquire, who is running the country while they’re devoting time to improving their minds? I find this so far removed from my own experience of trying to complete a reading challenge, even while leading a normally busy life, never mind trying to run a superpower, that I cannot treat it with any credibility whatsoever.
Or maybe my nose is just out of joint.