Conservatives make the case that President Bush (the Current, not the Former) is not, as widely proclaimed on the left, an idiot. They cite SAT scores (not as good as Gore's but better than Bradley's), his Harvard MBA degree (family connections will get you in, but won't necessarily get you out again with a sheepskin in hand), and the testimony of those who've spoken with him at length in private, and found him more more impressive face-to-face than in front of a crowd.

Fair enough. Many people have trouble with public speaking, your present author emphatically included. Many people mangle their syntax, yet have impressive intellects. Resolved: George Bush is, if not brilliant, then at least reasonably intelligent, but seriously inarticulate.

But the pro-Bush argument stops there; once Bush's general acuity is acknowledged, it seems, there is no problem. Not so.

Ronald Reagan, a man of simple and occasionally amusing verbal habits, is nonetheless known as The Great Communicator, and with some justice. He spoke clearly, persuasively, and often inspiringly. He even made some oratorical history, in his call to "tear down this wall". Bartlett's Quotations may not love him, but he was comfortable and effective before a crowd, and this was a major political asset.

A President must communicate, and must do so effectively before crowds, microphones, and cameras. He may be able to skate by in relatively quiet periods (Gerald Ford springs to mind), but when crunch time comes, we need a Communicator, a Persuader, in the Oval Office.

As George Will points out, crunch time is officially here; it is time for the Administration -- quite specifically, the President himself and no mere proxy -- to make the case, to spell out why we are launching hostilites on someone who has not directly acted against us, a precedent in American history.

The case is there to be made, and Will makes it ably. But it needs to be made by you-know-who, and George W. Bush's broken lines may not be sufficient to connect these particular dots. Especially as the election draws near, and the Democrats in Congress are deciding whether or not to embrace the President and his war.

(Can you tell I've been reading George Will? The too-clever-by-half verbiage tends to rub off on you. It's fun to stretch your grammatical legs once in a while, but it gets tedious to read pretty quickly. No fears: I'll get back to ripping off Lileks' style instead now.)