Bubble Boy

Consensus seems to be that El Presidente did poorly in his first debate with John Kerry because he's been living in a protective bubble for going-on four years. In short, he's totally out of practice. He seems not to know that there are other points of view -- not to mention hard questions -- about his conduct in office.

To wit:

His campaign events are as tightly controlled as the guest list at a Trump wedding reception. The town-hall type events he's been holding -- which look on TV like he's conducting a free-wheeling give-and-take with a random audience -- are (as they might say in Texas) "all boots and no cattle." Participants in these events are carefully screened. You've heard of the presidential loyalty oaths to get into these events? Well, once you're in, you're further segregated, with the most super-duper fawners getting seated in the section from whence he taketh his questions. So you get powder-puffs like this: a veteran recently asked whether Bush would permit him "the honor of giving our commander in chief a real Navy salute, and not a flip-flop."

To wit:

El Presidente's last prime-time news conference was April 13. He's allowed the press to ask questions at photo ops only twice since August 23rd, both times with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi at his side. Otherwise, he has stopped taking questions from the small pool of reporters who cover his photo opportunities. His staff typically sets up events so he does not have to walk near reporters. He has granted three interviews in the past five weeks, to conservative Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, to the arch-conservative Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader and to WMUR-TV in New Hampshire.

As Mike Allen writes in this a.m.'s WashPost, such royal isolation ends up bearing a grand price tag, when the isolatee looks like a petulant spoiled brat in front of 60 or 70 million adult voters:

"Although all presidents are kept somewhat removed from reality because of security concerns and their staffs' impulse for burnishing their image, Bush's campaign has taken unprecedented steps to shield him from dissenters and even from curious, undecided voters .... Bush's handlers have pulled the presidential bubble especially tight during the campaign, but he often has kept his distance from the public and the media throughout his term. He rarely plays tourist on trips, and has held the fewest solo news conferences of any president since records were kept."

So tonight's unscripted town-hall debate with Kerry is a field of potential land-mines he's got to walk through alone. No, wait, Jesus Christ will be guiding his every step.