Politics: Bush - A Character Analysis in What If?

Bush had a war hero and a busy politician as a father. His dad was the US Ambassador to the United Nations, the envoy to communist China, Director of the CIA, chairman of the Republican National Committee, a man experienced in war and in international politics. George W Bush on the other hand, was a governor, failed businessman, owner of a sports team, reputed cokehead, drunk, AWOL National Guardsman, and overall layabout for most of his entire life.

His drinking problem and his tendency to shirk danger and responsibility show a clear rebellious "phase" that he's not even really out of, if you saw that look he gave Kerry on the "What about what your father said in his book about Iraq" moment. I'm pretty convinced that always being right is part of his character, part of the flawed response to not being able to reason a response and not clearly understanding his father or his father's work. I'm not sure if he ever was allowed to hit rock bottom with his drinking, instead he probably got shipped off to some fancy rehab clinic where they locked the booze away and and gave him another focus.

He probably has lots of friends, but no real friends. Who could stand this rich guy with the spoon tenting the seat of his pants, drunk all the time, right all the time, aggressive to a fault, full of bluster but very little personal bravery? That's not someone you hang out with, that's the guy you and your friends toss out of the bar and beat the crap out of and pee on him laughing because he's such a loser. And maybe none of that happened because he's rich and his father was really important and he had people looking out for just those things- but I don't think he's so stupid that he doesn't realize that without those things and people surrounding him that maybe he'd just be mopping floors and going home to beat his wife after a couple of six packs each night.

That's who I see when I look at him. Just a loser with a chip on his shoulder because he's afraid that everyone might find out that he's that loser, willing to send other people to die for him because otherwise he might feel weak and small.