On Sunday, November 20th, 2005, George Bush was in China. At the same time, there was a bit of an uproar over a recent call for withdrawing troops from Iraq from members of Congress. They had also recently passed a bill requiring that the Bush administration provide a report detailing an exit strategy.
This cloud was hovering over the entire Bush Asian trip, and captured more media attention. The attempt by Bush to quickly walk out of a press conference caused a miscue when he tried to open a locked door. The moment has been replayed on mainstream news channels as well as being prominently displayed on the New York Times.
This metaphor was not lost on Bush's critics. It has a demonstrative connection to a presidency that has become seriously off track. Public discontent with Bush as president and Republicans in congress was continuing to grow. A high profile war veteran and military supporter in congress raised the call for the troops to come home. This is a challenge to Bush's leadership, and his administration's response has been especially harsh.
Bush damaged his image as a leader in charge by being caught in a stumble before the eyes of the world. He comicly made a goofy face, and told the press that he had failed to try to escape from them. He was ushered to another door within seconds.
But the images are now commonplace, and the incident represents part of the poor performance by Bush on many issues.
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