This image says it all.
Posted on 06/21/2007 6:45:17 PM PDT by SJackson
IN THE CURRENT by GOLDA SHIRA By . (06/15/2007) President George Bush is my hero. No, this is not another Bush joke. The truth is that I have come to see him as a man of rare integrity. What a guy!
No, I wouldn't have said those things seven years ago. I certainly wasn't keen on the mechanics of his election. And I wasn't voting for a guy who started out not too interested in international involvements, certainly not in the Middle East.
Yet he has risen to the challenges presented during his presidency with courage and enormous self-sacrifice.
So you think he's doing this for daddy? You think he's doing this for a legacy?
How could that be? Look what he is enduring-not only constantly being the butt of jokes and (friends of) Pelosi's spitting through her teeth seething contempt, but also facing a 66% disapproval rating.
Doesn't seem to me that that's trying to win a popularity contest.
Except maybe Upstairs. Where it really counts. I think the man is really trying to do the right thing. No, it's not easy for me to say. Yes, I have very dear friends who have served and are about to go back to Iraq. My heart is in my mouth not only for them and their families but also for my very own sleepless nights and the anguish I endure every day they are away.
But that is the greatness of what America is and hopefully always will be: a nation willing to make wrenching sacrifices in the name of freedom and democracy.
It isn't easy. And we like easy. While we sit in our leather easy chairs and watch the biggest and newest HD flat screen TV and relieve our boredom with the latest flavor of chips (Tuscany parmesan sea salt guacamole salsa baked) and get really irate about the ending of "The Sopranos," or really annoyed that we can't see how much blood got spilled when someone got whacked on our favorite permutation of "CSI" because some special was on. While our domestic crime statistics rise and we blithely go about our business unwilling to do much to stop that senseless bloodshed, we are nonetheless enraged that our country has the nobility to stand up for the very values upon which this country was founded.
We can pretend otherwise but we pretend at our peril.
We love our violence but we love it only if it's wrapped up in 60 minutes. We choose instead the myopic focus on Paris Hilton and Jennifer Aniston's new boyfriend.
"Don't bring me down with this war stuff, man. War is not peace, man." And it sure as heck ain't easy.
Okay, so did we go into Iraq the right way? No. Did we make grave errors in how this war has been fought? Absolutely.
But there, too, the President again is humble enough to admit that. And to change course and put in men like General David Petraeus so we will correct course and do better. And we are.
Listen to our amazingly brave soldiers who almost unanimously say they want to stay and get the job done. They know it won't be fast and they know it won't be easy. They and the President know that to leave now is inviting greater tragedy the likes of which most Americans cannot conceive.
We elect leaders to lead and Mr. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have embodied the statesmanship to be true leaders in the face of unrelenting scathing attacks. And because Mr. Blair knew he was right, he willingly sacrificed his position as prime minister rather than back down.
Hello? Is anyone awake out there? Politicians don't do that. Leaders of true stature do. Risk themselves and their reputations and their good name for all time to come in the name of what is for the greater good.
They know the real and present danger global terrorism is, and not just because they're privy to intelligence we're not. They, and any of us who have lived or spent ample time in the region, know we're dealing with a mentality and an insidious and pervasive many-headed hydra that obviously most Americans can't and don't want to understand.
Until the next 9/11 or worse, G-d forbid. (Until then, we're back to our cushy routines. And they are cushy compared to the standard of living of the average Iraqi. Or the average Israeli.)
I think it presumptuous, ignorant and arrogant of us to think otherwise. I could be wrong. No one wants another Vietnam. We Americans are a good-hearted, heroic nation.
For posterity, what will matter in the end is not how "The Sopranos" end, but how this war will end. How we, the mostly highly-educated boomers who live in the legacy of Woodstock, grow up and confront the reality for which previous generations were willing to fight. To fight for what's right, do what needs to be done, even if it's hard, especially if it's hard, in order to create peace not just in one country, one region but also to help bring it to the world.
Golda Shira is a multi award winning journalist (Columbia University Press Association, numerous Rockower awards) who has been part of the White House Press Corps for the past ten years and has covered the Middle East for the last three decades.
I strenously disagree with him on immigration, but his position on that issue has been clear to me since 2000. I admit he hasn't made it a priority, at least until he didn't face reelection.
Good piece, thanks for posting.
lol - good one
Yes he is. And that's the choice I faced in 2000 and 2004, so I've no regrets. Still, I'll complain about his failings which are many.
Man, did you nail THAT!
Ditto.
Funny, I read it in print and it was impossible to find on the net. As you'll note from the link, I used a google cache, the publication doesn't have it, at least i couldn't find it.
When it comes to the WOT and Pro-Life issues.....President Bush gets it. But, I don’t know what he is thinking on other issues.
bump.
I know it's a waste trying to make this point with you, as we have been over this ground before. But it's NOT immigration reform. It's amnesty for illegal aliens. Reform would be fixing our LEGAL immigration laws so that the educated and skilled people that are waiting years to get into the US and assimilate and become productive citizens could actually get in. That's what really needs reforming.
This image says it all.
Like Glenn says, they are all going in the same direction. Either we take a bullet train or the SST. Either way, you are screwed.
Get out of line.
Sincerity is meaningless when it comes to policy and its effects. Clinton is a “sincere liar.”
I disagree with him a lot to.
To add to the discussion, I think I'd have preferred McCain in 2000.
Yes, we would have had McCain-Feingold under some name, but we do anyway.
We wouldn't have had tax cuts, but they're temporary, and McCain isn't stupid, post 9/11 that might have changed.
It's difficult to replay these things, but I think McCain would have been a better wartime CIC.
So true!
You're right.
The damage was actually done for the past 30 years. Bush made the same mistake by not enforcing current immigration laws and built the fence with expanded Border Patrol which would have worked. It's interesting how the immigration bill was conceived and rammed through the Senate and House by the RATS. If Bush wakes up and vetoes this next time, will that change any minds. I doubt it. The hatred against Bush is out of control. Wait until 2008 when the RATS get the Presidency.
Sorry my FRiend...can’t follow you down the McCain path.
What a jerk. I supported him whole heartedly more than you possibly EVER could have. Until NOW. You have no idea.
He see's the current system as broken...and believes it needs to be addressed - Not simply pushed down the road further....where other POTUS won't take on the issue because of fear....(just like Soc Sec reform). Hell even the great Ronald Reagan turned tail / flip flopped and moved away from private accounts only to increase FICA taxes to boot (thus burdening another complete generation to the biggest wealth stealing scheme the world knows...Soc Sec).
I don't agree with President GWB on the issue of immigration but he is still a da*m fine man, one hell of a CinC (who is literally dragging the world in to understanding the need to face our enemies in this WOT....at a tremendous cost to himself).
In a thriving Limited Republic our party has to allow room for disagreement on issues. The notion that we all must be cookie-cutouts is dangerous and intellectually silly.
GWB is a leader....They are few and far between in reality...and not usually liked all that well all the time....because they are willing to make decisions based on what they think is best.....come hell or high-water.
I respect it.
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