When President Bush was asked last week about the criticism from Senators McCain and Hagel on Iraq, his response was curt, replying that “both men want me elected as president”. It was not the best way of addressing the issue, but then we have seen Bush do that on many occasions. It has been fodder for his critics who will gladly point to his limited grasp of the matter at hand or for the less eloquent among them: his stupidity. Of course, this is what Bush should have said and done:

“Senators McCain and Hagel are fine Republicans and the White House works with them closely in a number of areas, and on military issues their contributions are extremely valuable. You know, John McCain and I were opponents at one point but that hasn’t turned us into enemies (smile), on the contrary we’re both dedicated to the same course so I understand his eagerness to contribute to this important debate. We are part of the same party and support the same cause”

That would not only have been a good reply, it would have been politically astute and it might even have resulted in picking up a few McCain Democrats uncertain whether to make the hike to the polling station in November. But Bush didn’t say that, he couldn’t express the obvious and we can only fathom the joy with which his predecessor would have jumped on that particular question. Still, Bush must have had this answer in his head, it was on the tip of his tongue, but something snapped and all that came out was “both men want me elected as president” and then some boiler plate lines on Kerry’s position on Iraq. Not a great response, not a great media moment.

It’s very unlikely that a man who worked through Yale, picked up a Harvard MBA and has spent the better part of his life among the well-spoken and educated elites of America can not intelligently address questions. So, we have to look in his character or mental make-up to see why his off-the-cuff interactions with the press have most of times been so disastrous. It almost makes you think that Bush is uncertain and hesitant, and from there it is a very short step to the bottle which helped govern his life until he became forty. Alcoholism in a lot of cases results from the inability to deal with and manage uncertainty or lack of self-worth. In Bush’s case his lack of direction in early life may have contributed to similar feelings. The ease with which you can escape that reality or manage social situations after a few drinks must have somehow shaped his relation with the bottle. And it took place in an environment that was extremely conducive: from college dorm rooms to Texas country clubs, cold beer wherever you looked. For those who like the taste and have to manage some uncertainty that is an easy way to fun and some swagger, alcohol is a very pleasant companion and a place of refuge when you haven’t figured out things all that well. And we know by now that Bush hadn’t, and by his own admission, the taste of Tex-Mex food with cold beer is just too good to resist.

In judging George Bush we must never underestimate the tremendous amount of willpower that someone exercises if he or she kicks the bottle without any institutional or professional help. Laura talked, the bible helped but George did it. He mastered his devil and that by itself tells you what a strong and determined person the 43rd President of the United States is. Taken together with his academic grounding, his penchant for nature and simple life on the ranch, not to mention his long and enduring marriage to Laura, a particularly down-to-earth woman, it all makes for a pretty compelling guy. And that lifestyle gives us another clue. Bush has somehow chosen the haven of a private setting over dealing with unfamiliar social settings now that he is older and sober. He rightly has a limited interest in laying his soul bare to the American public, he prefers a family retreat in his Midland cocoon and that’s it. That attitude doesn’t sit too well with the openness and 24/7 accessibility that our crazed media culture demands. It was the same for Reagan who, while a great orator, preferred to disappear from the scene together with Nancy. The outcome is that for their reclusive and quiet private lives, both Presidents have been branded as idiots by their opponents.

Speaking on an impromptu basis thus remains an issue and with beer out of the window Bush has to rely on his own ability to translate his thoughts into coherent and slick verbal prose. It hardly ever works, with a few exceptions, and he usually reverts to the pre-ordained paragraphs written by others that even most of us can now recite by heart. George Bush’ ability to confidently talk about issues is probably restricted to situations where he’s really comfortable and totally at ease which is probably at home with family at the ranch and not in front of a camera and a battery of microphones. His foes jump on it and say: “there’s the village idiot, he can’t verbalize his thoughts, to the extent that he has any”. But we can argue that his biography points to an almost inexplicable lack to verbalize thoughts when surrounded by a judgmental outside world where the lone Texan is deeply uncomfortable. And then when he is confident he will go too far the other way and say things that some of his critics will equally hold against him: “We will smoke them out of their holes”. Good stuff, but frowned upon by elitist observers.

The man is neither stupid nor incoherent. A confluence of life events turned him - late in life - into an honorable and determined man whose ambitions have led him into corners where he doesn’t fit naturally. Interestingly the reverse is true for Bill Clinton, he was a perfect fit for the charged public environment of politics, but his mental and moral constituency was totally unsuitable for the Oval Office. If re-elected, we’ll see more botched appearances in front of the press in the next four years and hopefully some genuine bravado. We won’t however see polished verbose interactions with the press from Bush. The man just can’t do it, and in his mind it probably doesn’t matter: he’s got a far more important job to do.