Playlist gives Bush appeal

By Jane Muhlstein

I usually try really hard to ignore my major and steer clear of all things political in my column. But after reading a newspaper article earlier this week, I just couldn't seem to get a picture out of my head.

New York Times writer Elisabeth Bumiller got her hands on the playlist from President Bush's iPod. Apparently, the ever-trendsetting Bush twins gave it to him as a birthday present last summer.

Of the 250 songs Bush has stored, many are country. Others include John Fogerty's "Centerfield," Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" and the Knack's "My Sharona."

Two facts stood out when I read that. First, President Bush listening to "My Sharona" may be the most disturbing thing I've ever heard. Second, he listens to people who literally hate him (Fogerty played in the anti-Bush "Vote For Change" concert series last fall; he also sang the anti-war anthem "Fortunate Son" while with Creedence Clearwater Revival).

But once I was able to momentarily put those thoughts aside, I was surprised by how normal it made the president seem. As I read the article, I glanced down at my iPod to see that the battery was running low.

Like myself (and probably a healthy proportion of people everywhere), Bush lists "Brown Eyed Girl" as one of his favorite songs. And like my mother, he can't program an iPod himself (Mark McKinnon, chief media strategist during the 2004 campaign, downloads his chosen songs for him).

Music really is a great equalizer. My knee-jerk reaction was to ask who Bush is to take a nice bike ride with his iPod when there are children living on the streets and Americans dying in Iraq. But that's not fair.

For as much as many students (and I count myself among the guilty) complain about the less-than-stellar intellect of the president, it's nice to the see the human side of someone who has control over the course of world affairs. It's comforting to know that someone making such human decisions can still have a concept of what the rest of us are doing.

Last weekend, the president may have been recovering from jet lag after attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II, and gearing up for a Monday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. But for an hour and a half on Saturday, he was just a guy riding his bike and listening to Joni Mitchell on his iPod.

* Contact Jane Muhlstein at (408) 554-4546 or jmuhlstein@scu.edu.