Things that baffle Hanlon: Bush and Hillary “admired”

Polls are generally little more than an excuse to reaffirm something you believe (hey, people think 9/11 was an inside job, that means it’s true!), but at the same time they do give a good look at how people think. In this case, we find that, according to the public, President Bush and Hillary Clinton are the most admired man and woman in America. When I saw the headline I assumed it meant in terms of politicians. Not so!

When people were asked to name the man they most admire, 10 percent picked Bush, his lowest figure in the seven years he has been president. Bill Clinton got 8 percent – within the poll’s margin of sampling error – while Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore had 6 percent and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a presidential hopeful, was chosen by 5 percent.

Whoever is president has won the most-admired title every year since 1981.

Sen. Clinton, hoping to be president-elect by the time of the next poll, was named by 18 percent as the most-admired woman, the 12th time she’s been in the top spot. Talk show host Winfrey came in a close second with 16 percent. First lady Laura Bush and actress Angelina Jolie were each selected by 3 percent.

You really have to wonder how hard people really thought. If this was an open-ended question, how many people just picked a name that sounded respectable?