According to Karl Rove, George W. Bush is neither dim nor slow. Rather, he's the readiest reader who ever read. In the past three years, he's polished off no fewer than 186 full-sized books, many of them weighty tomes. That's fewer than Karl Rove, of course, but more than enough to dispel suspicions that Bush is incurious. "Mr. Bush loves books, learns from them, and is intellectually engaged by them," enthuses his lackey. I think the president doth protest too much. Since when do presidents have to send their message men to assure the country that they "learn" from books? What else would you do with a book? Try and make a raft? But take the statement at face value. Rove and Bush sent years assuring Americans that Bush was reassuringly dim, unimpressed with dense books and condescending intellectuals. Now, as his administration fades into history, Rove trots out his reading list to provide proof of his literacy. It manages to be cynical and insecure, all at once. Like Palin going on Saturday Night Live, Bush is now reduced to selling his political persona down the river in a final bid for elite acceptance. Even sadder, the bid reflects a fundamental misapprehension of what was wanted. No one cares if Bush has read an Andrew Jackson biography. It's his unfamiliarity with his briefing books, not with Founding Fathers porn, that most concerned the nation.
