Propaganda Tool Analysis

Public approval has always been an essential part of the American Presidency. But times have changed and today presidents make public appearances to make sure that public opinion of them is favorable to them. These public appearances allows the president to show off favorable characteristics like integrity and courage which makes the president likeable to the American people. This has essentially turned the modern president into a spectacle. The change of the president to a spectacle is used by modern presidents as a tool that allows them to implement national policy.
One of the best examples of the president as a spectacle being used as a propaganda tool was during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was elected into office at a time when
Bush. President used his propaganda tool to get public approval for his war on terrorism. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was a huge help in Bush’s war on terror. The media showed Bush’s feud with Osama Bin Laden, who was one of the masterminds behind the attacks on September 11, 2001. Many news networks on television portrayed a feud between Bin Laden and Bush. Video tapes of Bin Laden was showed to the public as well as Bush vowing to protect America from Muslim fundamentalism. This helped to portray President Bush as a strong militant leader who strongly opposed terrorist attacks that posed a threat to the U.S. In his State of the Union, Bush posed Iran, Iraq and North Korea as threats. The narrative being displayed on the media helped Bush to carry out his war on terror. In 2003 Bush was able to get both Congressional approval and majority public approval for an invasion of Iraq. Justifications for the war was that Iraq held nuclear weapons and contributed to the terror attacks on 9/11, but this was all posed on very sketchy evidence. Public approval for the invasion was high because President Bush was able to make himself look like a militant leader protecting the U.S. against threats like Iraq. American emotions were riled up because the damage of 9/11 was still on the minds of Americans and Bush’s role as strong leader fighting against extremist in Iraq helped him to get public approval for his war. While whether the invasion of Iraq was a just cause or not would later come into question Bush was able to use his role as a spectacle as a propaganda tool to get his war approved by the American