Sotomayor/Bush

Earlier today I was reading this article on CNN about how out of place and completely intimidated Sotomayor felt when she got to Princeton. That's funny, I thought to myself, you know who didn't feel any of that at all when he landed at Yale? George W. Bush. A rich duck taking to Ivy League water.

Of course, one of them went on to become a "Gentleman's C Student," while the other one ended their college career summa cum laude and awarded with that school's top undergraduate honor.

Earlier today I was watching Obama's first pitch at the All-Star Game. It was a kinda soft throw, a kinda crappy throw if the president being able to throw a bullet across the plate is important to you. And then the "experts" on tv started talking about all the pressure he felt, the whole world watching him do something that is completely unnatural to him. Must've felt the pressure, they all said. That's funny, I said to myself, you know who didn't fell any of that on the mound those coupla weeks after 9/11? George W. Bush. Reared back, fired a strike.

Of course, one of them went on to become arguably the worst president ever, while the other remains to be seen.

Such brazen confidence in and of itself is something to be admired; but obviously it doesn't mean anything in the end. Maybe simple "I'm the man!!" easy-breeziness doesn't always translate to actual success as much as intelligence, hard work and self-doubt might.

The coincidence of these things coming to my attention today are tied together by this guy over at RedState.org, who is wringing his hands that MLB "allowed" Obama to talk about policy during the game, but didn't "allow" Bsh to do the same when he went to games.

As Dan McLaughlin notes, the relevant point is that George Bush showed up for a ball game and never showed up to talk policy.

I think maybe a MORE relevant point is that George Bush didn't care to talk about policy - you're the president; if you wanna take a minute to say something more important than pointing out hotfoots in the dugout, I doubt they would cut you off. But Bush remained as attentive to his own presidential policy at any given moment of the day as he had to his studies in college, or to the eyes of the world upon him at a such a point in history on a pitcher's mound: disinterested and/or oblivious. It's like when Obama was about to move into the White House, and some members of Bush's team wanted you to think that Bush was up nights worrying that Obama would overturn his most precious of policies, as if he was Bayard Rustin and emancipation was threatening to be repealed. Whereas Bush himself was like "meh, yeah, whatevs."

Cue all my Republican readers: "for chrissake, move on from Bush!!" (rolling eyes.) But this isn't even about Bush, it's about the cost of the rash generosity of our own votes, and all these articles coming together at such an exact moment seemed to happen solely to remind me of that.