Yet neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney promotes himself as tool savvy presidential timber, in the mold of a Jimmy Carter, a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker.
When I shaved in the morning or stopped at a drive-in to get a hamburger or walked from one class at the university to another, I felt death's presence.
So whatever his private views, he needs to take account of the impatience of Iraqis to see the back of the occupiers. He also needs to be seen to drive a hard bargain.
Wherever you stand below or above, it truncates the perception of the occupiers bodies of whom one only sees the legs sitting, crossing or walking around in the place.
The government's avowed aim, however, is to maintain "a substantially homogeneous society into which newcomers, from whatever sources, will merge themselves".