Missing George W. Bush
I think this article is awesome, as is the story it tells. A couple of days ago I heard the news that George and Laura Bush paid a private visit to the wounded soldiers at Fort Hood. They specifically requested that the base commander not inform the media of their visit. They came. They comforted the wounded soldiers and the Fort Hood community for a couple of hours. And then they left. And they never had their pictures taken saluting the troops or holding their hands.Read the whole thing. Please. It's a real-life lesson in leadership and love of country.
When I heard the news, I felt this pain that hasn't gone away. It's a pain that I have been feeling fairly often since last November.
It hurts to hear about an American President who cares deeply and sincerely about wounded soldiers and soldiers murdered in a terrorist attack and know that he is not the American President. It isn't so much that I miss Bush personally. I had a lot of criticism about his policies - particularly in his last two years in office after he effectively abdicated his leadership of global affairs to Condoleezza Rice and the permanent bureaucracy in Washington.
But at least you always knew that Bush loved America and that he loved Americans. You knew that he valued America's allies even if he didn't always do right by them. You knew that his values were American values.
You can't say any of that about his successor. And it hurts.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:42 AM
4 Comments:
That is the President I miss so much. He was a mensch...and what he and Mrs. Bush did is so like them....normal, friendly, caring family.
I remember President Bush after 9/11, when he came to what was the World Trade Center,dressed in a zippered jacket, and stood on a pile of debris, talking to the workers through a bullhorn. No fuss, just a way to thank them for what they were dealing with, and Mrs. Bush would come to NYC with no publicity, and read to elementary school kids near the remnants of the Twin Towers. She talked with them, and really cared.Israel could have had more attention, but there just is no comparison. None.
The One is as fake as a $3.00 bill. I truly believe he has not one drop of compassion in him.
Caroline Glick is spot on.
Bush started out good but for whatever reason, fell apart on Saudi immigration and border security; and unfortunately, like his dad, ignored the economy.
But I did like him.
I sadly cannot say anything positive about the current POTUS. He is a national embarrassment.
No one has the moral, political and strategic clarity that Carolyn Glick provides. She simply is a national gem. G-d bless her.
I am sorry, but even though I agree with most of your viewpoints, I do not view Bush as some kind of big "friend" of Israel. His family was beholden to the Saudi Royal family who donated millions of dollars to "Dad's" Presidential libarary, and he personally vowed to the Saudi Crown Prince that he would create a "Palestinian State". When that became impossible he certainly cheered on the destruction of Gush Katif, whether or not the idea was originally Sharon's. I will never forget that when the suicide bomber war was really bad in 2001, and early 2002 that Bush and his acolyte's were constantly warning against "disproportionate responses". Jews were being slaughtered daily and yet they were pushing Sharon's "restraint is strength" garbage.
The fact is that President's that claim they are "Israel best friend ever in the White House" (e.g. Clinton-Olso and Bush-Gush Katif)are the ones that do the most damage because then the Israeli gov't can make concessions, do withdrawals and destroy settlements and justify it by saying "we have a real good friend in the White House-we have to make him happy".
OBAMA IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO ISRAEL IN A LONG TIME-he is forcing us to stop relying on the US (a weak reed in any event) and he is unifying the population in Israel which is the most important thing (only problem is that he is bad for the US).
The "real best friend" Israel ever had in the White Houste was Lyndon Johnson-he did not push us of the territories captured in the Six-Day War and he supported UN Security Council Resolution 242 which is very favorable to Israel. No other President even comes close.
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