Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

President Bush said nothing at his press conference last night that he hasn't (a) already said, most recently at the State of the Union, and (b) said better, in such prepared-text settings as the State of the Union. I think that if he wanted to make his case to the American people one last time before the bombs start dropping (and dropping and dropping and dropping, if that "Shock and Awe" business is really the way they're going to do it), a speech from the Oval Office might have better served the purpose. (Of course, then he'd likely end up seeming redundant when he gives the inevitable Oval Office speech upon the commencement of hostilities.)

This news conference was, simply, useless. Nothing was said, whatsoever, that would sway persons opposing the war to the President's side; nothing new was offered, no new information came out, and the case as it exists (which I support) was simply not helped. If anything, I think Bush may have hurt things a bit, because as far as I could tell, the news conference did nothing to address my biggest beef -- that Bush and his administration, while having given all manner of thought to the upcoming war itself, has not given much thought at all to what happens after and even less thought to any of the pressing problems elsewhere in the world.

And I'm frankly confused as to why Bush's political team, which is usually very effective, would choose to go the route of a formal press conference when everything is coming to a head, given that Bush is simply not very effective "off the cuff", as he showed last night. He hems and haws, at times he looks bewildered by the very format of the event (actually saying at one point "This thing's scripted" being a key indicator), and at other times he resorts to his trademark smirk as he repeats himself.

Basically, I found the entire thing....odd.

(Some folks have speculated that he looked "medicated". This could be; the possibility reminds me of the second campaign debate in 1988, in which Michael Dukakis answered one question after another in as robotic and pasty a fashion as was conceivable -- including the infamous opening question, "If your wife were raped and murdered...." Turned out that Dukakis was fighting off a bad cold and was likely shot full of NyQuil and Contac.)