The President of the United States of America is one lucky son of a dynasty.

A bit of interesting trivia about the 43rd President, George Walker Bush: in 1978, Bush ran for an open Congressional seat to represent West Texas in the US House of Representatives. Perhaps more interesting, and certainly lesser-known: Bush lost handily to his Democratic opponent because he came off as too much of an elitist, out-of-touch brainiac.

Woah, doggy. How could those silly Texas Democrats possibly have accused the so loveably grits-and-gravy good-ol’-boy President of being some Yankee-fied Yalie? How did they explain that gentrified southern drawl, his charming Bible-thumping tendencies (hyper-masculine, Old Testament, fire and brimstone style), the fact that he looks so damn cute in a ten-gallon cowboy hat?

Well, folks, it seems that Dubya might just be smarter than every single Bush opponent in recent history has ever considered giving him credit for. He did graduate from Yale and Harvard, after all. And after his defeat in the ’78 Congressional race, Bush double-fisted those Ivy League degrees and acquired him some knowledge about appealing to the public. If I haven’t been entirely clear yet, let me spell it out for the simpler folk: the public doesn’t want to vote for just any filthy rich, intelligent stiff to whom they cannot relate. Oh, no. The middle-class, lesser-educated voters want a more accessible guy who understands their plight and thinks of them as equals, rather than easily-manipulated simpletons. (Would that be less offensive if I affected a southern accent and waxed poetic about the endless fields of tobacco I passed on the way to school during my sweet North Carolina childhood? Because that’s the idea.)

George W. Bush is a member of the modern American Aristocracy. The Bush family has frequently been compared to the Kennedys with regards to their deep pockets and prolific influence in United States government (unrelated, of course). But the biggest difference between George W. Bush and John F. Kennedy’s dynastic images is that Dubya pretends, quite convincingly, that he is nothing more than a Texas good-ol’-boy. The calculated effect is of course that everyone forgets that he is actually the son of the 41st president (George H.W. Bush); the grandson of a US Senator from Connecticut (Prescott Bush); the great-grandson of a close advisor to President Hoover (Samuel P. Bush); the brother of the governor of Florida (Jeb Bush); and (another juicy bit of trivia) is also related to both Franklin Pierce, the 14th President, and Diana, Princess of Wales.

George W. Bush, in spite of his attempts at pretending otherwise, hails from a royal blue bloodline. Certainly, being rich and well-connected is not a death sentence when it comes to being able to relate to less wealthy constituents. However, in light of Hurricane Katrina, it has become obvious that their majesties the Bushes are totally out of touch with reality.

In a radio interview, Barbara Bush, mother of George W. Bush, spoke about the refugees transplanted from the New Orleans Superdome to the Houston Astrodome. She said, “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway. So this is working very well for them.” I’m hardly suggesting that we make like the French and bust out the guillotines, but Mrs. Bush’s remark strikes me as easily comparable to Marie Antoinette’s infamous “let them eat cake.” Her utter lack of empathy for the suffering thousands misplaced in a giant sports arena miles from home and completely unable to contact family and friends illustrates that mother Bush just doesn’t get it. Her ignorant insensitivity is baffling.

What’s worse is that Barbara Bush isn’t the only member of the royal family coming off as the entitled, unsympathetic aristocrat that she is. On September 2, while touring the hurricane damage in Mobile, Alabama, President George W. Bush stopped to provide a few words of comfort. He addressed the public, saying, “The good news is—and it’s hard for some to see it now—that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house—he’s lost his entire house—there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.” Laughter ensued. Really, how touching. I feel better already.

Senator Trent Lott and his wife weathered the storm in their house in Jackson, Mississippi. The house that President Bush was referring to was Senator Lott’s beachfront home in Pascagoula, Mississippi. When thousands of people lost every single material possession save the clothes on their back, Senator Lott’s lost weekend mansion just doesn’t seem that tragic.

President George W. Bush is so inaccessible to the common man that he can’t even pretend otherwise anymore. While Kanye West’s assertion that “George W. Bush doesn’t care about black people” is probably false, the fact that the general public is beginning to express anger at his complete insensitivity suggests that his cover as the compassionate good-ol’boy has been blown out of the water.