Two Mosting Interesting Personalities of the Past 5 Years...

Are Osama Bin Laden and George Bush. The weird thing is that I don't really find these two all that interesting...neither are very intellectual or have any sort of new, profound vision of the world. Both are privileged kids, fairly friendly and easy to get along with guys. They would probably be fun fraternity brothers, but not great orators or intellectuals or visionaries, that one would expect would influence the world.

The thing they both have in common, is a simple and clear message. Bin Laden has a simple message: the United States is assalting Muslims around the world and the Middle East ought to be government by Islamic law. His message manifests itself in patient, consistent attacks against America, and building and training an Islamic army. Bush's simple message is compassionate conservatism...which manifests itself in different policies which are most noted for being inflexible and not subject to open debate. In Iraq he insists on "staying the course," with respect to tax cuts, he insists, despite a growing budget.

It is interesting the power, of a single, consistant message...I saw the beginning of a Tarkovsky film the other day when a man says, "I think if someone does something, just one thing every day, consistently, they can change the world." I guess there is something to be said for it.