WASHINGTON - The man who has been putting words in President Bush's mouth for the past seven years said Wednesday that he is leaving the White House.
Michael Gerson, who went from chief speechwriter in the first term to senior adviser in the second, wants to pursue other writing and policy work, said Bush spokesman Ken Lisaius.
Gerson started working for Bush in 1999 in the early days of his presidential campaign, and he became one of his most trusted aides. He had a West Wing office, unusual for speechwriters in recent history.
Some of Bush's most-repeated signature phrases, such as "the soft bigotry of low expectations" or "the armies of compassion," were Gerson's handiwork.
An evangelical Christian and former theology student, Gerson also was known for infusing his work for Bush with spirituality.
What you have to remember about this Bush White House is that it is not a policy-making office, but rather a marketing-PR office. The Bush White House does not draft, nor determine public policy--they market pre-conceived policies created by PNAC neocons, Big Business, and the Religious Right. When you listen to any of Bush's speeches, you hear a lot of fluffy style--a perfect example is the war in Iraq. We hear a lot on how the U.S. can't abandon its mission, or a U.S. pullout will make the world a more dangerous place, or when the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down, or even you're either with us or with the terrorists. But we never hear what the U.S. mission in Iraq really is, or what the measurable goals are to track the success of this mission. That is how the Bush White House operates.
And now it is interesting that one of its top operatives in this marketing department is finally leaving. This is certainly going to be a problem for the White House marketing department. But there is more here. Gerson is an evangelical and former theology student. This type of training allowed Gerson to infuse religious symbolism within Bush's speeches. This religious symbolism is an important political component for selling the Religious Right's extremist ideology to the American people through the Bush White House. Look at two Gerson's signature phrases in the Yahoo story: "The soft bigotry of low expectations" or "the armies of compassion." These phrases are both ambiguous and contradictory. Take "the soft bigotry of low expectations." Bigotry is defined as "intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices," while expectations is defined as "to look forward to." In one sense, the phrase means a pleasing, comforting, low-key, mild intolerance of opinions and prejudices falling short of looking forward (I've included the definitions of soft and low in this phrase to complete it). It doesn't make sense. And "the armies of compassion?" Now armies is defined as " a large organized body of armed personnel trained for war," while compassion is defined as "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it." Talk about a contradiction there! An army is comprised of men who fight in war--they engage in violent killing against men from the opposing army--in the heat of battle, there is no sympathetic consciousness of others' (perhaps the enemy's) distress.
The beauty of these phrases is not that they are contradictory, but they are interchangeable--you can use them in to promote any political policy. The "soft bigotry of low expectations" could be used to define the eroding standards of our nation's public schools, which in return would call for school vouchers and the No Child Left Behind Act to be instituted to improve the public school system. You could also use the soft bigotry quote to show the erosion of marriage and family values, prompting the call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. And as for the "armies of compassion," well, the U.S. military in Iraq could be called an "army of compassion" for bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq. We could have "armies of compassion" spread out to the U.S. to stem the erosion of God, family, justice, and freedom by instituting laws banning gay marriage, institute domestic spying, force the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, impose public school school prayer, protect gun ownership, and any other Republican social wedge issue you can think of. These ambiguous, contradictory phrases can create a strong emotional responses among the American people, making them agree to whatever political policy the Bush marketing team is trying to sell that day.
The more I think about this, the more I'm starting to wonder if Gerson realizes that it is time to pull out now. With the polls showing President Bush's approval ratings hovering at around 30-38 percent (depending on the poll), the majority of the American people believing the country is on the wrong track, and that the U.S. should start pulling out of Iraq, this style of PR-marketing is getting stale for the American public. The problems of Iraq, the slowing economy, health care, jobless recovery, rising energy prices, high consumer and federal debt, have been exacerbated as Gerson, and the entire Bush administration, have tried to cover the seriousness of these problems with empty phrases and slogans. It is getting harder to convince the American public of the Bush administration's leadership ability with the proclamation of these empty phrases. And now is the best time to get out, before these complex problems of the war, the economy, the health care, inflation, consume and destroy this White House marketing strategy.
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