Ich bin ein Berliner

Well, maybe not

It should be well known by now that our boy George likes his public appearances tightly scripted.

During the first term and especially during the re-election campaign, his audiences were vetted to make sure all attendees were Bush loyalists (they actually had to sign an oath).

“Town Hall meetings” were not public forums at all but well orchestrated events where the questions were known and selected in advance. The soft ball questions were so soft in some instances that they became squishy: “Given your strong Christian faith, Mr. President, how does Jesus’ teaching guide you in everyday life”. Really probing stuff like that.

The debates with Sen. Kerry, were the only non-scripted appearances, and despite a long list of debate rules insisted upon by the Bush team, Dubya did an abysmal job. This was probably the only real (and really telling) view of Bush that the voters ever got. And he didn’t look all that impressive.

So, on his recent tour of Europe, tightly scripted events are the rule, as he shakes hands, makes statements, and tries to look presidential.

But apparently the Germans didn’t get the memo. They thought the “town hall meeting” scheduled by Bush would be a free-flowing question-and-answer session between the German citizens and an American President. Tightly scripted public events don’t set well with the German people these days as they are all too reminiscent of a recent dark era in German history.

Once the Bush team got word that the Germans weren’t playing ball, the event was promptly cancelled. Evidently, democracy and open, public debate are for the other guys.