Bush, the LD Candidate?

It’s an idea that has been knocking around in my head for a while now; it’s highly likely that President Bush has a learing disability. No, I don’t mean it as a joke, and neither does the author of this BusinessWeek article.

Ever wonder why President Bush says “nuculer” when he means “nuclear” or “subliminate” when he means “subliminal?” Or why he mixes up perseverance and preservation? Why does he mangle the English language often enough for Slate Editor Jacob Weisberg to produce three books of Bushisms such as “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.”

… “SUBTLE DISORDER.” To some learning-disability experts, the signs are clear: Bush might want to pay them a visit. These experts haven’t tested the President, so they caution that they can’t be certain of the diagnosis. Yet, ample signs indicate that something unusual is going on in the left side of his brain, where language and hearing are processed.

The possibility is high that there’s some dysfunction in the way he hears words, the way he processes what he hears, or the way he retrieves words when he tries to speak. When someone uses the wrong word or malapropisms and has difficulty with grammatical sentences, experts on learning disabilities “typically suspect at least a subtle language disorder,” says William Stixrud, a clinical neuropsychologist in Silver Spring, Md.

Being that I have an LD of my own, if you count ADD as one, I’ve wondered about Bush almost from the moment he took office. (If you ask me, there’s a certain ADD-type approach in his handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.) Something about the way he speaks always seemed to have it’s roots in some sort of processing problem. And, it runs in the family.

Such disorders often are genetic, and the Bush family has a history of them — Bush’s brother, Neil, has been diagnosed with dyslexia. Bush’s other brother, Marvin, has a son in a Washington school for children with learning disabilities. Perhaps as a result, the President’s mother and First Lady Laura Bush have both been big advocates of improving reading skills.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t doubters.

Weisberg says in the introduction to his first volume of Bushisms that he doesn’t buy these theories. He notes, as Milbank did, that apraxia usually produces shortened words, while Bush sometimes elongates them, as when he says “analyzation” instead of analysis. And if Bush had dyslexia, he wouldn’t be able to read a TelePrompTer so well, Weisberg postulates. But with sufficient practice, someone with the disorder could read a speech adequately, says Kathy Hosty, a Washington, D.C., speech-language pathologist.

Stiill, I think there’s something to it. Given the president’s behavior, and his difficulty with expressing himself, and his penchant for painting situations as black and white – unable or unwilling to see or deal with nuance.

However, there’s room for doubt.

Yes, all of these examples of Bush’s behavior have alternate explanations. A lack of focus during a privileged upbringing could explain the President’s grades in college. The nicknames could be an attempt to control relationships or be one of the guys. The infrequent press conferences could result from the Administration’s penchant for secretiveness and general disdain for the media.

So, the jury’s still out, I guess. I don’t mean to imply that the having a learning disability is in any way a reflection on Bush’s intelligence (any more merely having ADD might means one is unintelligent), though he could have a learning disability and be otherwise intellectually impared. It’s just an interesting idea to consider, and a device through which to interpret his presidency thus far.