The conservatives are working hard to characterize the president as incompetent. To do so is an attempt to hide the fact that much of the damage done by the president comes right out of the conservative playbook. George Lakoff elaborates, in this insightful article [1]:
The mantra of incompetence has been an unfortunate one. The incompetence frame assumes that there was a sound plan, and that the trouble has been in the execution. It turns public debate into a referendum on Bush’s management capabilities, and deflects a critique of the impact of his guiding philosophy. It also leaves open the possibility that voters will opt for another radically conservative president in 2008, so long as he or she can manage better. Bush will not be running again, so thinking, talking and joking about him being incompetent offers no lessons to draw from his presidency.
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