There may have been much to criticize, but many commentators were quick to highlight the fact that President Bush was unable to answer the question about the personal impact of the national debt , when in fact Bush had responded to the question. Bush was correct; in a personal sense, the national debt had not affected him. Further, Bush was able to invoke the cancer analogy to challenge the premise of the question. The fact that he was not personally affected by the national debt did not mean he was either unaware of the economic hardship being suffered or unqualified to solve the problem.