What is so remarkable about the President's involvement in the Schiavo case, in other words, is not just his symbolic descent from the heavens, but his equally symbolic vanishing act. What kind of leader sticks his head into an issue so overtly, then ducks and runs in less than week? That complete turn around by the President is what has Americans concerned and for good reason.
Schiavo Case Reveals Bush as Weak Leader
What accounts for this radical shift in the President's position in the Schiavo case? His weakness as a leader.
In fact, throughout the Schiavo affair, it doesn't seem that President Bush was leading anything, let alone the nation. Rather, his actions revealed him to be a remarkably weak leader, easily manipulated by street mobs and overnight polls.
The President was moved to become involved in the first place because of the political threats of a lynch mob gathering on America's doorstep, and the President then removed himself altogether when a big hole suddenly opened in his popularity ratings.
As a result of his plummeting poll numbers since the President swooped down from the skies to rescue Terry Schiavo, the President went back into hiding.
Popularity polls are a fact of life, lynch mobs, on the other hand, are not a fact life in American politics, but are a periodic problem that gain prominence in periods of weak leadership.
Even if President Bush remains in hiding from now until Christmas, Americans can now see the clear ties between him and the religious militants that menace the streets of our country with a new and frightening boldness. Whether President Bush's actions in the Schiavo case lead to more mobs in more American cities remains to be seen. But as Americans everywhere empathize with the personal pain and private anguish of the Schiavo family, they also watch nervously as their President embraces the politics of the lynch mob.
One thing is certain to Americans on all sides of the political spectrum: the mobs in Florida are a real threat to the American way of life, and they have gained new ground as a result of President Bush's dramatic public endorsement of their cause.
It is hard to imagine that this Schiavo case would have gained such prominence in the national press if President Bush had not involved himself in such a symbolic and extraordinary way. If anyone bears responsibility for the boiling over of an angry religious mob in Florida, it is President Bush.
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