A day in the life of President Bush (photos): 3/12/03

yahoo.com, netscape.com, whitehouse.gov

[rintense]

President Bush continued his strong diplomatic effort via the phone today by calling the leaders of several countries looking for support in a war against Iraq. Bush also expressed his condolences to the people of Serbia regarding the assassination of their leader, Zoran Djindjic. Bush also held a meeting with bipartisan lawmakers on medical liability reform which goes to a House vote Thursday. Enjoy your daily dose of Dubya!

[LuvyaDubya]

Thanks for the fabulous photos! It's great to see the President so relaxed and smiling. Laura must have walked in the room.

I did not see the Dose last evening, so this is a wonderful way to start my work day at 5 AM.

[kayak]

Thank you! May God bless and keep Kevin.

[Inspectorette]

rintense, next morning thank-you. I love the picture - he looks wonderful. No matter what horrible things the evil ones do or say, he is blessed with an inner peace - you can see it in his eyes.

He prays daily, and he knows that there are millions of us who are praying for and with him, and this, along with the love of his family, will sustain him.

He has said that he prays for wisdom, guidance, and strength: he has all of these qualities, more than any president I can think of has ever had. Even our beloved President Reagan did not have to contend with the adversity that has fallen on President Bush's shoulders.

[Republic]

CONGRATS on your sign, your wisdom is positioning yourselves for maximum visibility and for making the effort to support our President and our incredible, amazing, courageous TROOPS!

Loved your report, and want you to know that I really appreciate your posts, DrDeb. A bunch. The stats you present (sometimes positive, sometimes discouraging) keep things reality based and balanced.

Everyone-please pray for our President and his team, our military and please tuck Tony Blair into your prayers-deeply. He is right now a man among men...and we need to petition our Father to enfold him under his awesome wings. God listens and responds.

[Marysecretary]

Yep, I think so too. We're just armchair generals. He knows the inside story sooo much better than we do. I get impatient, too, but then I think "what do I know?" Absolutely nada. I can wait until my President decided to roll.

[ohioWfan]

I need to vent among friends right now......

For the first time in over 2 years I am angry with the President, and I'd like some help here to calm me down.

When I heard today that the vote at the UN had been postponed until Monday, I basically freaked out. What is going on??? I thought that the President demanded that there be a vote THIS week! Now it is Monday.......or will it be a week later...or a month....or a year?

I realize that we are not privy to the information motivating these endless delays and this worthless 'negotiation' with the UN, and I have trusted the President implicitly with everything done......until now. Is this not a sign of weakness for the US? Is this actually 'caving' to outside pressures rather than asserting the sovereignty of the US? Is this not hurting our troops waiting overseas?

I realize that I have a personal stake here, so I am not being objective. Eric is NOT at college because he is supposed to be serving his country.......but he is NOT serving his country because he is sitting at Ft. Campbell doing nothing, NOT going to college, and NOT fighting a war. I know that I am emotionally drained, so maybe this makes no sense, but I am really angry right now.

I'm very sorry for this, but I thought that some of my reasonable friends might be able to calm me down, and help me make some sense of this idiotic game being played.

[Wphile]

Ohio...you are not alone. Many are very upset by this but there certainly is a possibility that things going on behind the scenes are dictating the timeline here. Some have suggested that the vote was postponed until Monday so that the Turkish parliament can re-vote on the US troop issue. Evidently, Turkey has said that a vote would not pass if the second resolution failed. So, if the UN hasn't held the vote yet, then the outcome in Turkey may be more favorable.

There is the usual "cover for Blair" argument and there is some signaling by the French that they are open to compromise. Personally, that scares me more than anything.

Another rationale is possibly the work of the psy-ops going on in Iraq, the moon and other military maneuvers.

Now, having said all that, then the President should never have come out and issued an ultimatum nor should he have said anything about March 17th. The US looks like a paper tiger and looks foolish. Plus, it's embarrassing to be out around the world begging countries the likes of Angola and Guinea for their vote. It's humiliating, actually.

My hope is that at the end of the day, a vote will occur, it's outcome will not matter, we will go into Iraq, and the UN will be deemed unworthy. If all this fanagling around somehow ends of legitimizing the UN, I'll be really ticked.

I have to run but should be on the Dose sometime tonight. I was in a tizzy this morning but have since calmed down. I just have to hold to my belief that W knows what is best and is proceeding down the right path. Keep the faith.

[MJY1288]

OWF, I believe this all about killing time until we are ready, the Turkey situation was a major setback, I would rather the President take some political heat, than send our boys in half cocked in a war that isn't quite as they planned.

We here about the heat in the desert, but this war will not be faught in the open desert like the Gulf War was, and I seriously doubt it will take more than a week or 2 of ground combat. IMHO the only reason why the President is willing to be jerked around by the U.N. is to give Tony Blair some political cover. I know we all are constantly reminded of any slip up by the President in the media, but I believe they will be shown to have mis-underestimated him once again.

The President has asked me for patience and I will give him that, he has been spot on since day one and I think he is here as well.

Your Friend,

Mike

[ohioWfan]

Thanks to both of you. I just reread my post, and I am already significantly calmer than I was when I wrote it. (Mr. Ohio helped a lot by saying the same things as you did....)

You are absolutely right, Mike. This President has never let me down. I have disagreed with some decisions, but never to the point that I lost any of the trust in him that he had earned by his actions.

Mr. Ohio also told me that there had been contact with some of the Iraqi Generals, and that some of them might agree not to fight......so that might be part of the reason for the delay. I just hate seeing him give ammunition to our enemies by 'insisting' that the vote be made this week, and then letting it go until Monday.

I am NOT a patient person, and sometimes President Bush's patience drives me crazy, but I am going to hang on, keep praying that he receive the wisdom he has prayed for himself, and try to get through the next few days (or weeks) without losing my sanity.

In the meantime the troops and equipment are almost completely in place, and 71% of Americans in some polls think we need to take military action in Iraq, so support for the necessity of this war is growing......which is also a good thing.

Thanks again. I knew I'd get some help here.

[MJY1288]

I have been doing a lot of reading on past disagreements between France and the UK, and I beginning to believe Chiraq has more of a beef with Tony Blair than he does us. There might just be a power struggle in the EU and Tony Blair has been no big fan of france's position in the EU. This might be an effort to push Tony Blair out of power. I would like to know who is organizing these huge protest in Great Britian and where do they get their money, Something tells me the French are funding these groups?

Im sure Chiraq wasn't too impressed when GWB had Tony Blair be the first foriegn leader ever to sit in for a State of the Union Speech back in 2001, You know how petty those damn Frogs are :-)

[mystery-ak]

I feel exactly like you....I talk to Mike every night and he is getting discouraged(never thought he would feel like this)...he's trying his best to keep his troops spirit up, but he says it's getting harder every day....you can't keep troops at a height of readiness and then sit and wait.

Jonathan withdrew from college and forfeits this semester...he leaves Saturday, I hope he doesn't have to sit around and wait also.

I hate feeling like this, I love our President and trust him, but if he is not going to use our guys, send them home, I need them!

[ohioWfan]

I hate feeling like this, I love our President and trust him, but if he is not going to use our guys, send them home, I need them!

Oh....that makes me feel so much better that you feel the same way, mystery!

This is excruciating! PLEASE, get this started and over with!

[mystery-ak]

I've been trying to stay away from FR's negative threads....but Im drawn to them....We have to keep the faith and trust in GW.
Im worried about all our troops, especially in the ME right now, the weather is starting to get bad.

Has Eric's depart date changed?

Mike wants out of Campbell so bad, he hates it there....he wants to GO!
He is starting to depress me when he calls...he's not the type who likes to sit around, he's always busy...he feels he's being wasted and won't get there in time.