This blog was originally published on Forbes as Dubya Disses Donald Without Mentioning His Name on Tuesday, February 16, 2016.
For the first time in the seven years since he left office, George W. Bush returned to the campaign trail yesterday, undoubtedly prompted by the difficult sight of seeing his brother, Jeb, struggle in his campaign to become the Republican candidate for president.
Desperate times require desperate measures. Fully aware of the danger of reviving the controversial issues of the Iraq War, Dubya emerged from his political seclusion to give a speech in South Carolina, the site of that state’s all-important primary election next Saturday.
The former president decided to attack the challenge at crux of the matter: Donald Trump’s front-runner status; Dubya decided to do so with a classic rhetorical technique called antithesis in which two contrasting ideas are juxtaposed for emphasis. Two of the most famous examples of antithesis are Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:
The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
And John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address:
And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
George W. Bush, a more plain-spoken man, did not aim as high as his illustrious predecessors, but he did aim to elevate the exceptionally low level of the political campaign in which his brother is mired; a campaign that reached its nadir with the ugly volleys of personal insults in last Saturday’s debate.
Without once mentioning Mr. Trump’s name in his 20-minute speech, Dubya used antithesis in his attack:
These are tough times and I know that Americans are angry, but we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our anger and our frustrations.
Strength is not empty rhetoric. It is not bluster. It is not theatrics. Real strength comes from integrity and character.
Will it work? We’ll see on Saturday.
This blog was originally published on Forbes as Dubya Disses Donald Without Mentioning His Name on Tuesday, February 16, 2016.