E.L. Doctorow: The Unfeeling President

[paineinthearse]

I remembered this essay from 10 months ago. In light of the coward's avoidance of Cindy Sheehan, this still rings true.

======================================================

http://archive.easthamptonstar.com/ehquery/20041028/col5.htm

The Easthampton Star, October 28, 2004

GUESTWORDS: By E.L. Doctorow

The Unfeeling President

I fault this president for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our 21-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 weapons of mass destruction 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 1,000 dead young men and women who wanted to be what they could be.

<snip>

The novelist E.L. Doctorow has a house in Sag Harbor.

[babylonsister]

1. Really wonderful essay, worth reading if you haven't, or

even if you have. :thumbsup:

[kweerwolf]

2. Doctorow is one of the best writers around today.

And this piece is certainly no exception. He cuts right to the human - and humane! - heart of the issue.

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

3. Bush is like the btk killer.

"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 ..."
Like the phony remorse of a psycho killer.

[niallmac]

4. Was it in 'Farenheight 911'

the footage of bushie primping and full of himself before speaking to the nation? A complete and total phony. I personally feel his is a sociopath.