It was Tony Blair's statement to the media this morning that got me to thinking about our own President and his, rather entertaining, past speeches and media statements. As I listened to the Prime Minister deliver a very clear, concise, and well spoken statement this morning I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed at the blatant gap in public speaking ability between Tony Blair and that of our own George W. Bush.

Now, this is not a debate about who is the smarter of the two. This is merely my observations of their differences in regard to addressing their constituents. I do not feel the need to slander our President’s intelligence; I believe that his words and actions take care of that strictly on their own. To spend too much time discussing the idiocies of George W. Bush would be like beating the preverbal dead horse. I am sure that not even the die hard Bush supporters could find the spirit to defend the President, or even have the capabilities, as Bush has not given them nearly enough examples of brilliance to rally around in their arguments.

Getting back to the subject at hand, I listened closely this morning as the Prime Minister spoke to his nation and the world. Though he had very little information to offer his statement was still somehow reassuring. At no point during his statement did I feel the impending doom that comes with a George Bush speech. There were not threats, no gun totin’ Texan debauchery, just facts. Blair told us this morning that these near simultaneous explosions are being handled as terrorist attacks, that he will be leaving the Group of Eight summit today to go to London, he assured us that the Group of Eight summit would continue on today in his absence, and that he will be returning to Scotland later today so that he may rejoin the summit tomorrow.

You could hear, almost feel, the restrained fury in Blair’s statement this morning, but he did not waiver. Blair maintained the composure that one would expect from an elected leader, the professionalism that I see a complete lack of in our own President. I couldn’t help but let my mind’s eye do a little creative editing and imagine this same speech if given by George W. Bush (in this vision Bush looks a lot like Yosemite Sam, but that of course is a product of  my own opinions of the President).

I imagined a speech full of fist waving and tough sounding buzz words like, vigilance, resolve, dedication, and lets not forget…evil. I could see that side ways lean on his podium as he gave the press his dopey smirk. It was all very vivid in my mind.