WASHINGTON — He was no rock star.
His oratory rarely left us swooning.
He never convinced us he could calm the oceans or conjure up world peace.
It is probably safe to say that former President George W. Bush would never be confused with President Obama.
Bush was pedestrian. He mangled his words. He was capable of cringing inappropriateness in social settings — as he himself will flatly tell you.
Obama is smooth. His eloquence is what entirely fuels him. His mere presence in our political midst inspired millions of Americans to usher him into office without really knowing what he would do.
So Bush’s re-emergence onto the public stage after two years of self-imposed exile comes at a stark moment when Americans have clearly grown tired of their handsome and exotic plaything, Obama.
We now know how fervently and reflexively Obama believes that the federal government is the answer to all of our problems. We have been shocked by his refusal to listen when we beg him to stop.
So as voters delivered him and his party a historic pounding at the polls last week, Bush’s re-emergence — though timed to the release of his book — could not come at a better moment to glimpse the sharp differences between the man two years ago we could not ditch fast enough and the man whose arms we blindly flung ourselves into.
The most outlandish promise Bush ever made while in office was the crazy notion that a slightly peaceful, sovereign nation of Iraq, governed by a freely elected government, would emerge from the war he had wrought.
Yet not once since this actually came true has Bush gloated over it.
Meanwhile, you cannot turn on the television and not see Obama absurdly gloating over his own failures.
Can you imagine Professor Obama impishly delighting in mispronouncing the word “nuclear” as “nukular” — just to razz the pointy-headed nerds in the world who thought he was stupid?
No, Obama’s confidence is loud and clanging — the kind that foolish men have when walking noisily, unarmed, through the woods, fearful of encountering a grizzly.
Ironically, for such a swaggering Texan, Bush actually has a quieter, deeper confidence — like a man armed and sure that if he encountered a bear, he would come home with a great pelt.
For all his lack of refined speech and his low hobbies such as clearing brush with a chainsaw, Bush always knew who he was.
And, it turns out, he is a fairly gracious fellow who has striven mightily to give his successor the benefit of his silence. His book is devoid of cheap shots or settled scores.
Bush’s popularity today remains far below the enthusiastic support Obama enjoyed just two years ago. But it has rebounded from the dungeon levels he saw when he left office.
At this rate, Bush may yet become a rock star — and Obama won’t see a second term.