Bush and the Elites

Via Fox’s Election HQ blog comes the following quip from President George W. Bush:

“I have written a book. This will come as a shock to some of the elites. They didn’t think I could read a book, much less write one,” Bush quipped.

First, not a bad line given the grief Bush received over his intellectual prowess.

Second, this hits a pet peeve of mine:  i.e., people who are clearly elites talking about “elites” as if they don’t belong to said group.  There is little more elite in the history of mankind than being President of the United States of America.  Doubly so if one’s father was also President (with substantial bonus elite points for having a grandfather who was a Senator).

FILED UNDER: US Politics,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Herb says:

    Ah, you’re being too hard on the guy. I’m sure he was shocked too.

  2. daveinboca says:

    I myself think GWB overspent by a trillion and didn’t defend himself at all from the vicious attacks from the looney-tune leftoid psychopaths. So I rank him as mediocre, even though I supported, as an Arabist, his overthrow of the world’s worst dictator since Mao died and Pol Pot was overthrown—leaving the Hermit Kingdom and El Castrato’s Cuba out of the running.

    But GWB used to read a book a week while retiring at 9PM, mainly historical biographies on American history, and John Lewis Gaddis, dean of American historians and GWB’s mentor, often received a book report on each one, giving these to his students who were speechless when he finally told them who was reading them and writing the reports. And GWB not once lifted a finger to defend himself when called an illiterate buffoon by, well, illiterate buffoons like Bill Maher and the blubber boy Michael Moore.

    Obama is now whining and he’s having the Feds look into the Koch Industries tax situation. If the Repubs take the House, I hope Boehner has the stones to get committees started to investigate this POTUS’s abuse of the IRS and other agencies for political ends. GWB has more class in his little finger than Obama does in his entire fake persona.

  3. Brummagem Joe says:

    “(with substantial bonus elite points for having a grandfather who was a Senator).”

    Even more bonus points for Phillips Andover, Yale, Harvard (and then a super bonus for being a Bonesman).

  4. Brummagem Joe says:

    “GWB has more class in his little finger than Obama does in his entire fake persona.”

    At least three generations.

  5. tom p says:

    Steve, you forgot a brother who was a governer.