The good citizen…
In his excellent history of American citizenship, The Good Citizen, Michael Schudson contends that we have evolved into “monitorial” citizens. This citizen scans the headlines on a regular basis to get the surface details but little depth. When an issue of particular interest arises, however, monitorial citizens know how and where to get the depth of coverage they desire.
President Bush is a monitorial citizen. Consider this remarkable exchange in his interview with Brit Hume of FOX News:
HUME: How do you get your news?
BUSH: I get briefed by Andy Card and Condi in the morning. They come in and tell me. In all due respect, you’ve got a beautiful face and everything. [Note: The transcript does not explain this statement. I assume he's making a joke.]
I glance at the headlines just to kind of a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves. But like Condoleezza, in her case, the national security adviser is getting her news directly from the participants on the world stage.
HUME: Has that been your practice since day one, or is that a practice that you’ve…
BUSH: Practice since day one.
HUME: Really?
BUSH: Yes. You know, look, I have great respect for the media. I mean, our society is a good, solid democracy because of a good, solid media. But I also understand that a lot of times there’s opinions mixed in with news. And I…
HUME: I won’t disagree with that, sir.
BUSH: I appreciate people’s opinions, but I’m more interested in news. And the best way to get the news is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.
HUME: Mr. President, thank you very much.
BUSH: Thank you, sir.
One would suppose that, as a thinking and responsible individual, a president would want to read a newspaper carefully on a regular basis.
Further, I would contend that the information Bush gets from advisors might be properly thought of as more complete rather than more objective. It’s disappointing that the chief executive is spreading myths about overt ideological bias and objectivity. But, then, I suppose if he’s not reading newspapers he’s also not reading Rhetorica. Oh well.
He’d have to get someone to spell Rhetorica for him Andy.
As I replied to a correspondent after the incident described at http://avoyagetoarcturus.blogspot.com/2002_06_01_avoyagetoarcturus_archive.html#85205357, one of the risks of representative democracy is that every once in a while we elect somebody who really is a lot like the rest of us.
So while I appreciate Keith’s sentiment, it’s not clear that skimming the news and relying on others to provide relevant details necessarily implies overall ineffectiveness.
Dear Sir:
I find you quite condescending regarding the chief executive of the US. I have worked for organizations where the executive read summaries of many different news papers and only on rare occasions did they read the source themselves, and they were well informed. Quite frankly I read the Wall Street Journal, Skim the NY Times and Washington Post each day and I am pleased that the President does not waste his time doing like wise. I guess I consider the news reading I do as a hobby but I takes about an hour or two to read what I do. I fully expect that an executive as effective as GW Bush would find folks who he trusted to review the news and to summarize accordingly.
I guess the primary thing to understand about GW Bush is that he is comfortable in his skin. He does not care what people say about him. He does not care that the average story in the ‘Paper of Record’ contains as much editorial comment as news reporting. All the same he does not care that the Wall Street Journal or Rush Limbaugh are on many occasions giving him down the road because he has compromised with Dems in contradiction of the Conservative orthodoxy.
The bottom line is that most people Libs or NeoCons, Donkeys or Elephants like him, trust him. If he did read your well done blog it would be because he enjoyed reading not because he needed guidence from your deep insights on rhetoric.
I love your site!!!!!!
Gray…the President certainly does not need any insights from me. But I must disagree regarding reading a newspaper. And I must agree that, at times, I can be quite condescending towards those in power who do not measure up to my arbitrary standards. It’s a problem.
Jay…I do not mean to suggest that he’s ineffective, only that I believe he does himself and his nation a disservice by not reading a newspaper more closely. But, you’re quite correct that his news habits make him much like the rest of us.
Keith…
I found this in the Romenesko’s Letters section from someone named Tom Nord: “My guess is that Bush said what he said because he knows journalists are rather sensitive souls, and nothing gets their goat worse than the thought that their precious prose is being ignored by the guy in the Oval Office.” This sounds about right to me, although I think the JFK model of co-opting the press might be more effective.
Hmm, I wonder if there’s a ’snarky’ smiley. One comment, multiple paragraphs of response. I troll well.