This was the very first article I wrote back in 2007. I didn’t get whether this woman was a Bush hater or simply clueless. Looking back at the situation, I still don’t get it.
Today is April 17, 2007, one day after the horrific gunning down of 33 people at the campus of Virginia Tech. I was at the nail salon and on the television was the memorial service held at the school. Among the attendees were the President of the College, various representatives of different religions, the Governor of Virginia and President and Mrs. Bush.
While getting my nails done, a forty-something gal walked in and sat down with Sunny, one of the manicurists. She said she waited too long to get a fill and her nails were in a sorry state. Not much for Sunny to work with because the gal had ripped one of the acrylics off and another one came off on its own. Sunny started working on her nails.
President Bush approached the podium at the memorial. The gal asked if anyone loved President Bush. Lee, the owner of the shop doing my nails, and Sunny didn’t say anything but I said, “yes, I like President Bush very much.” She then said President Bush was there for political reasons.
“Boy, and I thought I was cynical,” I thought to myself. Here’s a guy who wasn’t planning to go to Virginia today and showed up anyway to support the students and parents in their grief and loss. I said nothing.
She then said, “well, he needs the votes.” I had no idea what this woman was talking about. “But he’s not running for anything,” I said. The following dialogue then took place.
“Well, he’s not very popular right now,” she said.
“But he’s not running for anything,” I replied.
“He will be.”
“What’s he running for?”
“President.”
I was flabbergasted.
“But he’s already been President for two terms.”
“Well, he’ll need the votes next time.”
“But he can only serve two terms as President.”
“I don’t follow this stuff very carefully,” she said.
After spending almost an hour on her nails, she handed Sunny a $10 bill for a $8 charge. She asked for a dollar back.
Whether the woman suffered from Bush Derangement Syndrome, a wonderful pejorative political neologism coined by one of my favorite political columnists, Charles Krauthammer , or whether she was incredibly uninformed, didn’t matter. Whichever it is, I don’t get it.
