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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Orcastraiter who wrote (75478)	4/15/2006 1:57:44 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 81568

An Essay on our President by E.L Doctorow > > I fault this president (George W. Bush) for not > knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death > of our twenty-one year olds who wanted to be what > they could be. > > On the eve of D-day in 1944, General Eisenhower > prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he > knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even > in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of > necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost > more than Eisenhower could bear. > > But this president does not know what death is. He > hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the > press, peering under the table for the WMDs he can't > seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to > the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the > carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, > triumphal, a he-man. He does not mourn. He doesn't > understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied > during the course of a speech written for him to > look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave > young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for > their country. > > But you study him; you look into his eyes and know > he dissembles an emotion, which he does not feel in > the depths of his being because he has no capacity > for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility > for the thousand dead young men and women who wanted > to be what they could be. > > They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers > and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to > the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of > familial relationships and the inconsolable > remembrance of aborted life.... They come to his > desk as a political liability which is why the press > is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their > coffins from Iraq. > > How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret > and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his > reason for going to war was, as he knew, > unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret > that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has > made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does > not regret that rather than controlling terrorism > his war in Iraq has licensed it. > > So he never mourns for the dead and crippled > youngsters who have fought this war of his choice. > He wanted to go to war, and he did. He had not the > mind to perceive the costs of war, or to listen to > those who knew those costs. He did not understand > that you do not go to war when it is one of the > options, but when it is the only option; you go not > because you want to but because you have to. > > This president knew it would be difficult for > Americans not to cheer the overthrow of a foreign > dictator. He knew that much. This president and his > supporters would seem to have a mind for only one > thing -- to take power, to remain in power, and to > use that power for the sake of themselves and their > friends. A war will do that as well as anything. You > become a wartime leader. The country gets behind > you. Dissent becomes inappropriate. And so he does > not drop to his knees, he is not contrite, he does > not sit in the church with the grieving parents and > wives and children.... > > He is the President who does not feel. He does not > feel for the families of the dead; he does not feel > for the thirty-five million of us who live in > poverty; he does not feel for the forty percent who > cannot afford health insurance; he does not feel for > the miners whose lungs are turning black or for the > working people he has deprived of the chance to work > overtime at time-and-a-half to pay their > bills -- it is amazing for how many people in this > country this President does not feel. > > But he will dissemble feeling. He will say in all > sincerity that he is relieving the wealthiest one > percent of the population of their tax burden for > the sake of the rest of us, and that he is polluting > the air we breathe for the sake of our economy, and > that he is decreasing the safety regulations for > coal mines to save the coal miners' jobs, and that > he is depriving workers of their time-and-a-half > overtime benefits because this is actually a way to > honor them by raising them into the professional > class. > > And he will versify this litany of lies with > reverences for God and the flag and democracy, when > what he and his party are doing to our democracy is > choking the life out of it. > > But there is one more terribly sad thing about all > of this. I remember the millions of people here and > around the world who marched against the war. It was > extraordinary: that spontaneously aroused oversoul > of alarm and protest that transcended national > borders. Why did it happen? After all, this was not > the only war anyone had ever seen coming. There are > little wars all over the world most of the time. > > But the cry of protest was the appalled > understanding of millions of people that America was > ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It > was their perception that the classic archetype > democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The > greatest democratic republic in history was turning > its back on the future, using its extraordinary > power and standing, not to advance the ideal of a > concordance of civilizations, but to endorse the > kind of tribal combat that > originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now > extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival > by no other means than pre-emptive war. > > The president we get is the country we get. With > each president the nation is conformed spiritually. > He is the artificer of our malleable national soul. > He proposes not only the laws but the kinds of > lawlessness that govern our lives and invoke our > responses. The people he appoints are cast in his > image. The trouble they get into and get us into is > his characteristic trouble. > > Finally the media amplify his character into our > moral weather report. He becomes the face of our > sky, the conditions that prevail: How can we > sustain ourselves as the United States of America > given the stupid and ineffective war-making, the > constitutionally insensitive lawgiving, and the > monarchal economics of this president? He cannot > mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to > make us mourn for ourselves. > > E.L. Doctorow