I think GWB earned a reputation of being an unskilled speaker whereas Obama has yet to make many gaffs. BO is a trained rhetoritician (law school) and is an extremely skilled public speaker so he has established himself as an arguably competent individual through public appearances. GWB started out okay but as soon as people began to see the gaffs over and over again it get to the point where it was just too easy to get the guy. I agree, national media have opted not to cover the president's comments and focused more on the incident itself. Different outlets also had different strategies. I think that a lot of the more liberal media will begin to get off of the BO "high" from the election soon and sober up. The moderates have already begun their criticism, and of course the conservatives have been on the attack since the campaign.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth