The deepest wound
is not that he was incapable of defending the country but that he has
shown he lacked the will to do so. In Bush’s own evangelical language,
he revealed his heart. The press disclosed a petulant, vacillating
president they had not noticed before. Time magazine described a “rigid
and top-down” White House where aides are petrified to deliver bad news
to a “yelling” president. Newsweek
reported that, two days after the hurricane, top aides, who “cringe”
before Bush, met to decide which of them would be assigned the
miserable task of telling him he would have to cut short his vacation.
is not that he was incapable of defending the country but that he has
shown he lacked the will to do so. In Bush’s own evangelical language,
he revealed his heart. The press disclosed a petulant, vacillating
president they had not noticed before. Time magazine described a “rigid
and top-down” White House where aides are petrified to deliver bad news
to a “yelling” president. Newsweek
reported that, two days after the hurricane, top aides, who “cringe”
before Bush, met to decide which of them would be assigned the
miserable task of telling him he would have to cut short his vacation.
Compassionate conservatism indeed, Dubya throws a hissy fit because he
has to shorten a vacation simply because a major city got wiped out.
Any president with actual compassion (or brains) would have ended his
vacation without having to be fearfully asked to do so by terrified
aides.