This photo proves one thing. Bush's face passed from worried to smiley during the press appearance — but most photo editors chose shots conveying a specific tone. Was Reuters trying to show the President as disengaged? Or just displaying admirable objectivity by refusing to match their photo's tone to the news story's theme? Or maybe they just bought into the ongoing storyline of Bush as a Texas homeboy who retained his charm while rising to the responsibilities of the Presidency. It's certainly a popular perception. If you search the web for pages with the word Bush and the phrase "Aw Shucks," you'll get 98,400 matches.
Ultimately the problem with media criticism is it devolves into empty speculation about the motives of an unseen editor — and to their credit, Reuters' caption is completely neutral. "Bush speaks to the press after receiving the official report of the Iraq Study Group."
Although to me the picture screams, "No, I still haven't read it."
Secret-Smile Bush
(Getty Images)
This picture offers an interesting contrast. It's Dick Cheney (to Bush's right) who has the real secret grin — a quiet, almost smug, Mona Lisa smile that may contain the story of his career. (A scowling Donald Rumsfeld appears in the larger picture.) But President Bush looks like he's catching Cheney's sparkle too — eyebrows arching, eyes lighting with private joy.
This picture is from six months ago, and USA Today chose this picture to accompany a story with a headline showing strong confidence. ("Bush rejects calls for pullout from Iraq.") Neither Bush nor Rumsfeld look particularly concerned, and if you look closer you'll see Bush has fewer grey hairs.
What a difference six months makes.
Josh Marshall remains cynical about the Iraq Study Group's report. On his blog he writes that "[A]ll this report really does is state the obvious (that Iraq's a disaster and we can't stay there forever) in a quasi-public forum." But that acknowledgment is the first step towards an official policy change.
And maybe news editors just want to see another acknowledgment in the President's face.
Article comments
1 - Steve
You forgot monkey face bush.
2 - dazey mai
Attempting to read Bushes face is like trying to read the face of Alfred E. Neuman. Jeez!
3 - nancy
Almost every time I see a photo of him, he's got his mouth open. I've seldom seen one of him with it closed; and when I have, he's smirking. Even I have concluded 99.99% of editors must be carefully selecting which images to use; surely no human being can be so... so... idiotic so much of the time, can they?
Oh, right. Sorry - we ARE talking about Dubya, aren't we? I withdraw the last comment above.
4 - Zedd
I'm confused. Do we not have televisions, you know those moving pictures that we get in our living rooms.
Bush does more live conferences than any President. I think that "stupid Bush", "confused Bush", "smirky Bush", "dazed Bush", "intoxicated Bush", "arrogant Bush" "cringesome Bush", and all of the other Bushes are not hard to see on your own without the media consipiracy (???).
Actually I am often shocked that they can come up with those presidential looking pictures because on the news conferences that I have seen, he pretty much looks lost and confused, arrogantly and high/drunk... Maybe its a right winged consipiracy to make him look compitant.
5 - Zedd
Maybe it my poor resolution but on my screen, all of the above pictures pretty much look the same... lost and confused/could be drunk.
Is it me?
6 - Elvira Black
Great stuff, Lou, on the semiotics of Bush-face.
I think you captured all his possible expressions--five in all. His economy of expresion reminds me of such acting greats as Lee Majors (should have had an acting school where you learn how to convey all possible emotions from A to B), or Ah..nold, Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and so on in their heydays.
These guys were even more economical in their expressive range, forcing the viewer to project the appropriate emotion (rage, grief, bemusement, vengefulness, consternation, love) from one of two available expressions. Seemed to work to their advantage somehow.
I have to admit that when Bush displays his not-nervous face (an increasingly rare occurrence) something about it warms me to the boy despite myself. I find myself thinking: "Well, maybe he's not such a bad guy after all." But the moment--like his expression itself--doesn't last long.