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08/25/2005
Stress, public approval ratings, and the presidency
Glenn Reynolds has a lengthy round-up of thoughts and posts on "What happened to President Bush"? Personally, I like this [via e-mail from Instapundit reader Mike Walker]:
I think whats wrong with the President is that he is tired, as we say in the south "slam wore out". Like a good blue tick after hunting, he needs to crawl up under the porch out of the heat and sleep for a good long spell. Look at pictures of him, you can see the graying, the wrinkling, and the fraying take place right before your eyes.
The man has had to preside over some momentous events during his 2 terms, from 9/11 to Enron et al to recession to Afghanistan to Iraq to a bitter, long and momentously important election to supreme court appointments. Every step of the way he has been criticized, demonized, lied about, misrepresented, belittled and opposed. No matter what he has done, he has been trashed out by someone somewhere, often including his own party members and some "supporters". He has been betrayed by members of his own party in the senate. HIs victories are ignored and his losses maginified a thousand times over.
Read the whole thing, as the Professor says.
Remember the smoking rubble of Ground Zero, the megaphone, the flag, and the arm around the construction workers? I do.
Remember how you felt in the days following 9/11? The shock, pain, and anger that you just couldn't purge? I do.
Remember the hope you felt when the President spoke in the days and weeks following the greatest American tragedy in our lifetimes? I do.
I remember the reality that sank in. This would be a long war. Nobody had to tell me we were going into Afghanistan or Iraq. Of course we were. Maybe Iran and Saudi Arabia, too, eventually. It was regrettable, but it had to be done.
I remember E-mailing my sister. It was 9/14/01. Friday. Cool and dismal, a little rainy. We had planned a garage sale for that day and even though it didn't seem right, we had decided to go ahead with it. Make a pretense of normalcy. Maybe it will help. Sometime during the day, I came inside to log on and E-mail sis. I remember writing that I had just read "Flags of our Fathers" [apparently being made into a movie with Clint Eastwood] by James Bradley - the story of the raising of the flag on Mt. Sirabachi, Iwo Jima during WWII. This would be a long war. It would require sacrifice and patience. It would require the shedding of American blood. And it might look bad before we win.
I remember clearly understanding the nature of our enemy. They hate us. All of us. They want us dead. I'm not talking about all Moslems. I'm talking about the fanatics - the Bin Ladens of the world. They think they're doing God a favor if they kill us. They will do anything, even blow themselves up, to kill a few Americans. As they demonstrated on 9/11, the more they can kill at once, they happier they'll be.
People, we've got to stop the mamby-pamby, whiny, hand-wringing bowing and scraping. And we've got to stop the political capitalization - on both sides of the aisle - that characterizes so much of American politics these days.
Can we rise above our need to make political points for the common good? I sure hope so.
21:48 Posted in Current Events | Permalink | Email this