Preaching to the Choir

Charles Pierce at The American Prospect blog makes a good point about Pres. Bush's non-attempts at converting his opponents:

So, I'm George W. Bush, right? I have launched a war that I have repeatedly said is a critical response to an existential threat to Western civilization that is as serious as were those of Nazi Germany and the Soviet empire....the threat is real and it is growing and I can't get the country to see it.

Why, then, do I give all my speeches to captive audiences of people who either already believe what I believe or who get paid to serve under my steady hand as commander-in-chief? Doesn't the seriousness of the threat, and the requirements of my job, mandate that I go out into the most skeptical parts of the country and do my convincing there? After all, when confronting the Depression or the growing threat in Europe, FDR didn't send out the fireside chats by subscription only. When Lyndon Johnson wanted to convince people on the need for civil rights legislation, he didn't bring Hubert Humphrey over from the OEOB for a chat. He brought in George Wallace, and damned near got him, too.

And this doesn't even consider the greatest political barnstormers of the 20th century, Woodrow Wilson and William Jennings Bryan, who traveled the country by train and spoke to thousands (often without microphones, and certainly without 'mission accomplished' banners on aircraft carriers) to promote their causes. Wilson was so convinced of the importance of joining the League of Nations that he basically killed himself trying to convince the country to accept it. C'mon George, where's the passion?

Of course, if GWB actually did try this, he'd be more likely to repeat the failed efforts of Andrew Johnson's 1866 "swing around the circle" which resulted in shouting matches with the President's opponents. And we all know how that presidency turned out....