Mad Social Scientist

''Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . .

''This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts,'' Bartlett went on to say. ''He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence.'' Bartlett paused, then said, ''But you can't run the world on faith.''

Suskind's article has helped me understand why Bush enjoys so much support. Half our country believes in angels and creationism, in UFOs and psychics, and why? Partly because confidence men---often sincerely and deluded confidence men---win them over to a pre-modern world view. But the deeper reason is that these people so desparately want to believe that someone is watching over them, protecting them, making the world simple and safe. That is the enduring appeal of American-style Christianity, I think, and for some reason half our country manages to keep its head under that sand. Bush, like some brands of American Protestantism, says "Just believe in me, and everything will be okay---you don't have to do anything or know anything. Faith conquers all".

Over the last few months, I've read dozens of articles with quotes from the "man in the street" on why they favor Bush. They are all the same: "Bush will keep us safe from evil." Often, they recognize that "Kerry is the better debater, but not the better commander in chief". In other words, they want a strong looking, confident man to have confidence in, even if they are troubled by the doubts that Kerry raises. Sounds like the age old debate between doubt and faith. Never has faith offered a more pathetic idol. But he is a very effective one.

Bush has run a campaign appealing to our country's inner child, who is a chump looking for a divine protector. And because Bush is the biggest chump of all, he makes the best campaign figurehead.

So maybe Bush's support is not about religion, but something that lies beneath religion---the desire for paternal protection from an all powerful father.