This is still funny: George Bush (Jr) on his ranch: (horses included)
Every president, particularly the modern ones, carefully craft their image.
Teddy Roosevelt was The Great Outdoorsman and Sportsman. Taft was Mr. Republican Solidity. Wilson was The Populist Scholar. Harding just looked like he ought to be President. Coolidge was an accident and had no image (many VPs who “fleet up” to the job don’t). Hoover was an Engineer Who Did Things. FDR was National Savior (and went to extreme lengths to hide is polio related disability). Truman had a minor image as a “penny pincher” and a modest name as a pursuer of “war profiteers”; he would later be Where The Buck* Stops. Ike was a war hero and carefully crafted an image as a strong leader and gentleman farmer. JFK was young, handsome, and energetic, as were the people around him; this was his image. LBJ was A Man Who Got Things Done; he allowed his “rough edges” to cause his enemies to under-rate him. Nixon was The Penultimate Anti-Communist; at least until he opened up China. Ford, like so many VPs before him, had no image and the one the press crafted for him was that of a buffoon. Carter was Mr. Nice Christian Guy who farmed peanuts on the side (note that Ike, Johnson, and now Carter played the “rural” card). Reagan was The Cowboy, with all that it suggests; he, too, played the “rural” card. Bush, Senior, like so many other VPs, never really got a good image established; the press did unto him as it did unto Ford by suggesting he didn’t “get it” with the “It’s the Economy, Stupid” campaign. Clinton was the bright, charming, scoundrel; smart, witty, and not to be trusted with your money or your wife. Bush, Junior, was the Spendthrift Christian; he also played the rural gentleman (note that he is number 5 at this beginning with Ike). Now we have the Urban Sophisticate with his Sophisticated Wife et al.; he may be the first to play the “urban card” and prefer basketball to riding or farming.
So image is important and, today, probably more important than ever before. Since image and perception trump reality things have not gone smoothly for the current Administration. Other administrations have suffered this indignity; their lessons have not been learned.
G.
*The “buck” is this case has nothing to do with money. The saying derives from the slang expression “pass the buck” which means passing the responsibility on to someone else. The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the “buck,” as the counter came to be called, to the next player.
[QUOTE=Guilherme;7710883]
Every president, particularly the modern ones, carefully craft their image.
.[/QUOTE]
the current one… is he working on beach or play boy or county club elite status?
