Posted on 09/19/2005 5:57:29 PM PDT by RightWingReader
"...this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall gather 'round for a hug and a good cry."
--The Gettysburg Address as it would have been delivered had Lincoln been less emotionally cold
More and more lately, I've heard people, from those on television to some friends, express their disappointment that President Bush doesn't publicly cry, or show grave emotion, when talking about even the saddest of situations. I don't believe that to be the case, but let's consider the accusation nonetheless.
Lack of outward emotion is often mistaken as heartlessness or a lack of caring by people who TiVo Oprah daily and think that the problem hasn't been invented that can't be solved by a jammy party, group hug, and weepy confession. What's more perplexing is that some of the people I've heard complain about Bush's reactions would readily vote for Hillary Clinton, who herself has the warmth and emotional range of a popsicle.
Whenever I hear that Bush isn't outwardly "consumed by grief and sorrow" in awful situations, a question comes to mind: is a consistent public display of raw emotion something we really want in our leaders?
Imagine you're on a commercial airline, and every time your flight hits severe turbulence your pilot gets on the intercom and screams like a woman who just saw a mouse in the kitchen. Would it ease your nerves to know that the pilot is "just like us" because he's sharing our emotions?
Some view a crying leader as a weak one, and some view a leader who never cries in public as a cold one. I tend to view a weepy politician much like the female orgasm-- it's an emotional human reaction that can also, by the right practitioners, be convincingly faked.
I don't know about you, but I don't want a leader who cries at the drop of a hat. Take some of the greats as examples. What if General Patton had altered one of his famous quotes to satisfy those demanding tears from their leaders? "An army is a team. It eats, sleeps, fights, and cries as a team."
How about Sir Winston Churchill? He's remembered as one of the world's great leaders, and he wasn't known to bawl in public, nor chastised for failing to do so, for that matter. And it would have been easier for ol' Winston, since bawling comes naturally when you're jacked on Johnnie Walker Black Label while V1's explode nearby.
What if Churchill would have said, "We shall not fail or falter; We shall not weaken or tire", then choked up and concluded with a weepy, "Clemmie, hand me a Kleenex"?
What if President Truman's nickname was "Give 'em sobbing, Harry"?
What if Martin Luther King, Jr. had said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by how much they cry in public"?
What if Douglas MacArthur said "I shall return, after a good bewailing"? A bunch of Filipinos would have been suddenly a little more insecure, that's what.
What if Reagan had said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this emotional wall between us"?
There have been leaders who cried, and with mixed results. Who? Well, Bill Clinton got misty a lot and was still politically successful. A television camera does to Bill Clinton what chopping onions does to the rest of us. Clinton can turn on an emotional dime, vacillating between tears and laughter with such ease that he must have trained himself to do so by simultaneously yanking out nose hairs while watching The Three Stooges. Not all politicians, however, can pull off tears and survive.
Back in 1972, it was alleged that Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie wept on the steps of Union Leader in Manchester while defending his wife, whom that paper editorialized as "emotionally unstable". Word of Muskie's cry ruined his presidential hopes, and, in many cases, put a quick end to the practice of a politician defending his wife.
Crying is a natural and healthy human emotion, but a leader's success shouldn't be judged by how much waterworks they produce in public. In national emergencies, tragedies, and all other sorts of nasty goings-on, a real leader needs to be focused on producing a real solution, not a saline solution.
Bush must be stopped!! How dare he show EMPATHY for suffering Americans??? How dare he weep when America is attacked?? What does the think this is, a civilized society????
Evidently, they're quite good at it. Witness the breathless idiocy of Hurricane Katrina coverage.
Oh Yeah, and he is TOO PHYSICALLY FIT also!!! Where does the President get off, doesn't he know he is a example to our children?????
Great......now we get to hear from all the Marys on FR who think that a grown man weeping in public is a-ok. Must be some of the same folks who voted that Broussard clown into office.
The last thing I want to see the leader of my country doing, especially during a time of war, is sobbing into his apron.
Men should never cry. Never! If you have to bite your tongue to keep yourself from crying then you should bite your tongue...if you have to drive a nail through th palm of your hand....or smash a sledge hammer against your knee cap...or gouge your eyes out with a..............all right this is getting out of hand.
Odd, I was just reading about Lincoln crying when he toured the battlefield at Gettysburg before his now famous address.
But, it was when he walked down onto the slope where so many of Picket's confederates died in their futile charge. With tears streaming, he uttered he thanked G_D that such brave men were still his American brothers.
What he inferred was that although locked in a bitter struggle, both North and South, we were still one American people.
See how many votes that gets them.
Remember: it takes a big man to cry. It takes an even bigger man to laugh at him!
ROTFL! I wanna ring side seat for your scenario!
He's not making an appearance on the damned Oprah show! He's governing a vast and varied superpower, while fighting a war on two fronts, and manage a domestic natural disaster at the same time.
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