TW: "Curmudgeon" Crawford hits a salient point. W. Bush lost the trust of the majority of the American public a long time ago. This has been a problem and made governing effectively essentially impossible. Crawford posits that perhaps Bush never really trusted the American public himself. When one sees Obama communicating already at a level far different than Bush mutual trust may be one key component of the dialogue.
From Crawford at CQ:
"When presidents do not trust the public to handle the truth, more often than not it comes back to haunt them. In many cases, more openness to questions allows a skilled president to make a better case to the public. This is especially true when the public is already asking tough questions.
Consider the nation's experience with George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003. Like so many presidents, Bush preferred to tell the world what needed to be done and shield himself from answering critics. This worked for him in the early days of the war when polls showed a majority of the public behind him. But that dramatically changed.
As the war dragged on and Americans grew angry about the death toll of American lives, Bush continued to stand above the debate refusing to acknowledge his errors or directly address mounting concerns.
Bush never seemed to trust the public or Congress in deciding to invade Iraq or how to prosecute a war that gradually became so unpopular that he became one of the lowest-rated presidents in the history of polling. In almost unilaterally making every decision regarding Iraq, Bush stood alone and isolated when it all went bad.
Failing to bring the public and Congress along for the ride can leave a president helpless if mistakes are made. When nearly everyone in the country is questioning their decisions, they ought to answer the questions with humility and honesty. Americans can be quite forgiving unless you stubbornly deny that anything is wrong."
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/01/bushs-trust-deficit.html
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