"What effect must it have on a nation if it learns no foreign languages? Probably much the same as that which a total withdrawal from society has upon an individual." --G.C. Lichtenberg
I'm imagining a future in which Gore has defeated Bush in 2004. It is now 2008. Dubya has done literally nothing since handing over the White House. Now he is put forward to reclaim his throne. He "writes" articles and gives speeches and raises money.
Would anybody take him seriously?
I think he benefits from the trappings of office. I think if he were just some guy with a history of disard for public opinion saying the same kind of things he says now, he'd look like an idiot. Without his buildings-full of bureaucrats to burnish his BS, he'd go 'clunk' a lot more often. He'd look like an impotent figurehead.
