February 27, 2011
SIMPLE GIFT:
Sing Out Mr. President: George W. Bush's Populist Simplicity (Tom Huizenga and Ashalen Sims, February 25, 2011, NPR)
Bush's image was not lost on composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, who set his inaugural phrase to music for the Mr. President project. Her song is titled "A Simple Oath."Kroll-Rosenbaum says the words that popped out at her "were 'simple,' mostly because of the way Bush kind of positioned himself as being a simple, old-fashioned president. And then his vision of 'new beginnings' — and the irony and the heartache of looking at that text after the fact, knowing now what we know about what happened in history, made this text that was seemingly simple all the more complicated."
"Simple" is a theme that also resonates for choral conductor Judith Clurman, who commissioned the music.
"Think about how many words are in the presidential oath," Clurman says. "It's simple, right? I asked a former student of mine, Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, to write something on George W. Bush and it's beautiful, very simple and elegant and quiet. Quiet is an important word. Sometimes, less is more in making music, an elegance. And I love these words."
I've been listening to an audio version of his book lately and what stands out is not just the perspicacity with which he comprehends the events of his presidency but the simplicity and clarity of his words. It's the rare memoir which will not be bettered by historians of the era, who will either be professional liberals trying to tear him down or conservatives trying to rehabilitate him, as has happened to poor Ronald Reagan.
