Politics & Power Quote by Thomas E. Mann

Mann’s sentence is doing the careful, slightly clinical work of connecting two volatile things Americans often prefer to keep separate: democratic judgment and national trauma. The phrasing “changed dramatically” is bloodless by design, a social scientist’s way of naming what was, in practice, a surge of solidarity and deference that made normal political evaluation feel almost impolite. By attributing the shift to “the horrific attacks of September 11 and his response,” Mann builds a causal chain that sounds obvious, then quietly forces you to confront its implications: popularity can be less a verdict on competence than a reaction to catastrophe and the performance of resolve.

“Leading the country” is the key rhetorical hinge. It frames Bush’s post-9/11 posture as leadership rather than, say, messaging or agenda-setting. That matters because it captures how crises temporarily reassign the job description of a president: from policy manager to symbol of national coherence. The subtext is a well-known political dynamic - the rally-around-the-flag effect - but Mann avoids the jargon, letting the reader supply the skepticism.

Then there’s “campaign against terrorism,” a phrase that imports the language of politics and war simultaneously. “Campaign” sounds purposeful, organized, morally legible. “Terrorism” is deliberately broad, an enemy definition that invites unity while discouraging fine-grained scrutiny. In context, Mann is tracking how 9/11 didn’t just reorder foreign policy; it reshaped the metric by which Bush was judged, trading peacetime criteria (economy, domestic stewardship) for wartime affect (resolve, protection, retaliation). The sentence functions as both explanation and warning: public opinion can be moved by events - and by the narratives leaders build on top of them.