By now you may have heard that President Bush was in Raleigh today peddling his Social Security plan. Here's a roundup of the meeting itself. As one of the (severely) under 55 set, I figure this is the only way I'm going to see ANY of the money I'm paying in right now. Since the local news has little better to do, they carried the entire Town Hall meeting live, with extensive coverage at 5, 6, and 11. I've watched W plenty of times, but I was struck again today by just how funny, personable, and approachable he was. Sure, the people sitting on the stage with him were handpicked, but he still went out of his way to make them comfortable and answer their questions about his plan, some of which were as tough as those posed by the White House Press Corps.
W is probably the best "Jerry Maguire" politician in this country in a long time. He is indeed the "Lord of the Living Room." A real closer. You get the feeling that he is genuinely interested in hearing everything you have to say, especially since he is likely to turn it back on you as a clever joke. In fact, that was the one thing that really got me today. The President made some really clever jokes, mostly in an effort to ease the nerves of the people he was talking with. If this is the image that people across the country associate with the President's social security plan, then I suspect it will eventually pass. Especially as even the local SeeBS channel couldn't find any protesters that could do anything beyond spew a couple of hackneyed lines about the plan. None of them could put forward any reason for their dissent or come up with a better plan when asked.
It's often said that the candidate who wins the election is the one voters would most enjoy having a cup of coffee with, and I can see why.
