The Greatness of George W. Brush

(Old Essay)
Being relatively new to D.C., I was surprised to learn the standard opening line in D.C. is not, your party preference. Like New York City, the first question asked is always, “What do you do?” Though this question does a good job of revealing your party affiliation, as well as your socio-economic status, it could be vastly improved. One could gain deeper insight into the character and temperament of stranger by asking, "What do you like to do?" And let it be noted that, having tried this, the question elicits some odd looks and heel-turning, as if some type of classified information were being sought. Although socially awkward, this question should also be asked of our leaders. With this in mind, I couldn’t help but think of President Bush, whose favorite leisure activity seems to be clearing brush at his Crawford, Texas, ranch. What does this tell us about the man derided as "Shrub" by political opponents? A great deal, perhaps. For one thing, clearing brush is not the sort of thing Dubya’s father was fond of. The elder Bush was devoted to tennis and golf, and most other physical activities that require a cardigan; which is what one would expect of a New England patrician. He also seemed to enjoy fishing and horseshoe-tossing, perhaps to convince us he was a regular guy. But make no mistake; any brush-clearing at his estate in Kennebunkport was left to the help. This disconnect from common tasks was another manifestation of the first Bush's isolation from common folk and common concerns. Connecticut Bush's demise was sealed on the pruning fields of Kennebunkport. The current president, by contrast, is a different man. Unlike his father, he is a Texan, and in Texas men clear brush, along with riding the fence lines in search of broken wire and shooting the lurking coyotes that lust after spring calves. The swinging of the ax and the singing of the chainsaw delight this type of soul, and this is exactly the kind of disposition I would hope for in a wartime president. First and foremost, clearing brush is an aggressive act. "Do I dare disturb the universe?" asked Zarathustra. "Let me get my saw and show you how," is the brush-clearer's response. This is no small matter. It should be remembered that in some quarters chopping down a tree or torching a briar patch is considered an act of sin. To give the tree-huggers their due, this is not an entirely unreasonable perspective. Trees are not merely big plants. Trees are great creatures that send their searching branches toward the sun, offer us their shade and beauty, produce oxygen for us to breathe, and also serve as a home to a wide variety of creatures. One should not take their presence lightly. Taking a different view was William Faulkner, who once said that trees are our enemy, presumably because they offer refuge for fowl, and constrain Mississippians from growing more cotton. Faulkner was probably drunk the day of that interview, but he, too, makes a reasonable point. As a student of man and nature, Dubya. is no doubt aware of all these arguments. He knows how long it takes a tree to rise from the rough Texas soil. He knows its struggle to survive against fierce winds and deadly droughts, and how it has resisted the insect hordes and perhaps a fire or two. He also knows that trees serve as perches for hawks and owls, and also as vantage points from which adventuresome children first come to understand the vastness of the world around them. He also knows that without his intervention a targeted tree might stand long after he has signed in with Saint Peter. Nonetheless, It seems Dubya sizes up the situation and says, "Bring it on!” Not only that, he will probably saw up the trunk and feed the pieces into a fire, cackling as the flames dance before him. This is the sort of fellow you want in your corner in wartime. Whereas Connecticut Bush stated, "Read my lips", as if he were instructing his gardener where to prune; Texas Bush declares "over my dead body." The latter is brush-clearer's language, and is no doubt widely respected in the Arab street as well as in Washington's corridors of power. The fact that this president is a “brush” comes as no surprise to some observers. Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal observed that the 9/11 attacks brought tough guys back to center stage: "A certain style of manliness is once again being honored and celebrated in our country since Sept. 11....I am speaking of masculine men, men who push things and pull things and haul things and build things, men who charge up the stairs in a hundred pounds of gear and tell everyone else where to go to be safe. Men who are welders, who do construction, men who are cops and firemen." Some may take this passage as an attack on men who make their living punching keyboards or debating policy…and their right. One would have a hard time imagining John Kerry clearing brush, and not just because he is a New England patrician in the same mold as Connecticut Bush. Kerry seems to be the type of person who does what’s popular. He plays the guitar, he snowboards, he rides Harleys, but he has probably never mowed a lawn or raked a leaf, much less razed a briar patch. Though it is clear Bush enjoys clearing-brush, some of Kerry’s pastimes are less known. Case-in-point, at the annual MTV Choose or Loose forum on Tuesday when he declared, “I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think there's a lot of poetry in it.” It was a complete coincidence that most of his audience was also “fascinated by rap.” Though more popular than clearing-brush, there are 3 ways to look at Kerry’s new-found interest in hip-hop: (1) he’s not “fascinated by rap”, he is simply saying what his audience wants to hear, (2) he is “fascinated by rap”, but fascinated only in the way motorists are, when they slow down to gape at a horrendous car wreck, or (3) as a wealthy, Yale educated, 60 year-old, white male; he is actually, “listening because I know that it's a reflection of the street…and I understand all that.” At worst, Kerry is fibbing; and at best, he is undergoing a major mid-life crisis. By contrast, Ronald Reagan was also a brush-clearer, and one notes that he and the current president have much in common. Both have been accused of having somewhat dim intellects, especially by those whose beliefs are devoid of rational thought. Both presidents have embraced similar economic and social policies; policies that put them at odds with almost everyone inside the beltway. These Reaganesque ideas are nourished within pragmatic intellects. A philosophy that brush-clearing develops. For example; a dead tree left alone in a dry Texas summer is a threat to the forest. It may not imminently cause a forest fire, but it would be fool-hardy to ignore it. This is where snowboarders marvel at the wonder of nature, and where brush-clearers fire up a chainsaw. The leadership benefits of snowboarding vs. brush-clearing are clearly open to debate, but given the nature of our enemies in the war on terror, I have only one thing to say. Fire up the chainsaw!