CNN released a poll indicating that 49% of Americans believe that "Bush is a uniter" while 49% believe that he is a divider. I'm sure I'm not the first to notice the irony of the country being evenly split about whether someone unites the country.

This poll also shows how useless polls can be. I'm guessing that most of the people who claim Bush will be a uniter are simply Bush supporters who would have responded yes to "can Bush levitate using nothing but mind power?" Most of the people who claim Bush will be a divider would have responded no to "can Bush read?" That is, many people aren't answering the question asked, they're answering some other question (in this case, "Do you support Bush?").

Bush said in his first post-election news conference:

With the campaign over, Americans are expecting a bipartisan effort and results. I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals.

Bush wants to unite all of the people who share his goals--that is, people who agree with him. Apparently that's enough for the people who agree with him to see him as a uniter. Now if only he could meet the traditional definition of uniter and unite the whole country.

politics George+W.+Bush polls