George W. Bush left his inevitability and his inexorability in New Hamphsire and on the way to South Carolina he’s lost the better part of his campaign warchest too. The question now is can W. survive a second look?
Is he more or less than a cocky trust-funder trading on his family’s name and connections? It’s said George W. was a guy going nowhere until his 40th birthday when he swore off booze and found God.
His resume’s been called a pale copy of his father’s. He was just an average student and a frat boy prankster in school; a non-combat, non-athlete who got bailed out of the oil business in Texas and lost a key political campaign for Congress in 1978.
On the other hand, he’s more Christian and more charismatic than his father; he’s a skilled politician, a popular Texas governor and he may have a vision of the future for the Republican Party.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Nicholas Lemann, author of “The Big Test” and writer for the Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker
Wayne Slater, senior political correspondent for the Dallas Morning News, “Who is George W?”