"If you count up all the minutes of wasted time," says Shearer, "it speaks to what it's worth to all these people to appear on television." Shearer's video of President Bush calmly waiting to go live (from which this is a still) brings that point shockingly home. This is the leader of the free world. This is a man who doesn't even have time to dial his own phone calls. And unlike his predecessor, Bush came to the job a compulsive schedule-keeper; meetings last just as long as they're supposed to, then end. For a TV camera, though, the president has all the time in the world. If our commander in chief is a slave to television's hurry-up-and-wait caprice, there's no hope for anyone else.

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