What sort of person is Bush?

I teach my meditation students an exercise called "the reflection process" in which one drops a question into one's consciousness (as if dropping a pebble into a pool of water) and then writes down whatever bubbles up. The first question we work with is this: "What sort of person am I?" I wonder what would bubble up for George Bush were he to engage this question. Of course, it's unlikely that our very shallow president would be introspective enough to consider it - or, at any rate, to engage it truthfully. But someone has done it for him. Ed Hamilton has written an article called, "What kind of man is George Bush, and what is he up to?" Here is part of what it says:

Gone are the days when we could wonder, half facetiously, if President Bush was as stupid as he seemed, or if he just thought the rest of us were stupid. Over the years a clearer, more nuanced picture of the man has emerged. Albeit deeply ignorant and intolerant, Bush is nevertheless clever in his own way, and able to use his charisma to his own advantage.

He's in some sense a puppet, in thrall to the forceful, intelligent men, such as Cheney and Rumsfeld, who surround him, but in another sense he is indeed his own man. This comes out best in his fanatical loyalty to his class, the super rich, even where this might be to his personal political disadvantage, and even to the disadvantage of his party, as is the case in cutting taxes on the wealthy and running up the deficit in time of war. So certain is Bush of the moral rectitude of such measures, that he is able to project this assurance in his speech and mannerisms, and--though I for one still find it hard to believe--he seems to have been able to bamboozle a large percentage of the populace.
...
George Bush learned anti-communism from an early age, and saw how advantageous it was to his family and his class. In addition to being the party of the rich, the Republican party is the party of fear; but since the end of the cold war, the fear of gays and women and minorities has proved a poor substitute for the fear of communism. That's why Bush and the Republicans needed Iraq, and it's significant that they had begun talk of this war even before 9-11 (which of course had nothing to do with Iraq). And it's also why they need to complicate the situation by going after other countries. Most likely it's long been their intension to start a war on terrorism -- a scary-sounding, alien ideology, much like communism in that respect -- or better yet a war on Islam, which is really the subtext here. Was it the ignorant side of Bush that spoke of a crusade, or were his words a bit more calculating?
...
There's something in the original dichotomy after all: is Bush stupid or does he think we're stupid? His policies concerning torture and illegal renditions--all but unimaginable in a civilized nation--are perhaps also not quite the work of ignorance. These policies seem in effect deliberately crafted to frighten and provoke our Islamic neighbors. And Bush escapes blame by playing dumb.

I thought I'd also copy for you here a comment to this article on the Smirking Chimp site:

I recently spoke with a technology executive who voted for Bush in both elections. Bush's policies of spying on citizens and detainee torture turned him against the administration. The exec. told me that his boss met one-on-one with Bush a few years ago and that Bush wasn't the dumbass he plays on TV, but informed knowledgeable and engaged.

Lowering expectations: the lifetime Bush M.O. Then whenever he does anything not completely stupid, people think he's smart. It's bait-and-switch, sleight of hand deception. Whenever I hear him talk, it's hard to believe he's not an idiot. It's quite an act he's playing if he's not as dumb as he seems.

Stupid - maybe not. Shallow - definitely. Dangerous - most definitely.

I don't know. I think he's pretty stupid. But he does, indeed, have a certain low cunning. And I agree with the writer above; he's definitely very dangerous.

I recommend that you click through and read not only the article but the comments that follow. It's a short article. And the comments - some of which contain some interesting speculation about Bush's brain health - are thought provoking.