San Antonio Express: We Needed a President not a Politician

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/stories/MYSA090305.1O.botchedaid1ed.1c1b7184.html

Editorial: Officials, relief efforts stunningly inadequate

<snip>

Bush acknowledged that the recovery effort has been unacceptable. He pledged it would improve. What he did not say, however, is that he is part of the problem.

On Tuesday, one day after the hurricane struck, Bush delivered a speech on the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, determined to stick to his agenda. Nothing would interrupt his schedule. Not even a catastrophe.

It was a telling moment. When the country needed a president, it got a politician. There is a big difference. A politician provides rhetoric; a president provides comfort and reassurance.

Where was the man who performed so ably in the days following 9-11?

He was a president then, a leader who expressed both compassion and fortitude. This time around, his response was frustratingly slow.

[Cha]

1. And the politician's instinct turned out to

be a COLLOSSAL WHOPPING DUD! Is rove still alive? Was this all bushit's idea to keep to his terrific photo op schedule and chat up the continued carnage in Iraq?

Cause it sounds like something he could come up with on his own and have it turn totally to shite like his previous lives.

[girl gone mad]

2. Bush did not perform ably after 9-11.

That was media hype.

Maybe now they'll figure out why letting Bush stymie the 9/11 commission was such a bad idea.

[RamboLiberal]

8. Exactly - What we saw this past week was exactly what we saw

on 9-11. Only people like those here on DU saw that clearly and didn't believe the patriotic whitewashing the media laid on us after 9-11 nor give into the fear to want to investigate his lack of reaction that day, and his run for his own safety leaving the nation to fend for itself!

[DrZeeLit]

13. Selective amnesia! They need to review the tapes. Same scenario.

Same outcome ----> 1) MIA! 2) Lame first response "speech" and 3) PHOTO OP

What? No bullhorn set up?
How about an entire day of Photo Op, set-up, and take down?

Why don't they see the parallels?
EEEEK!

(okay, at least they are "seeing" something this time?)

[pursuivant]

14. Bush's crisis response:

1) Deny the f*ckup.
2) Deer in the headlights look wehn you realize you can't deny it any longer.
3) Lame-ass first response speech.
4) Scurry all over the country on Air Force 1.
5) Get more photo op pix of you looking studly and presidential from the safety of Air Force 1.
6) Go back to the White House and sit a while.
7) Come to the scene of the disaster it's safe for another photo op.
8) Give another, longer, lame-ass speech that repeats the words "Freedom," "Murrica," "Terraist," "Values" and "Bless" about a dozen times each.
9) After about 2 hours at the scene of the disaster, go back to your previous plans for f*king up the world.
10) If possible, incorporate the disaster into your talking points for why f*cking up the world is a good thing.
11) Oppose any real investigation into the f*ckup.
12) When forced to do so, hold investigations, but make sure that somebody else gets blamed for the president's lack of character, wisdom, curiousity or leadership ability.
13) Rev up the Right Wing spin machine so that any inconvenient questions about what really happened go down the memory hole.

[FightingIrish]

3. We now have a situation where not only Bush irrelevant

but Karl Rove can do absolutely nothing about it.

[opihimoimoi]

4. Dats because the 9/11 thingy was an ACT...all AIR....ALL BS...

This time around...the TRUE BUSH EMERGED

He is a Manufactured President...by Rove and Company...

However, as of late, the Puppet had become a renegade...not even Rove/Hughes can control him....he has bitten by the Emperor bug...thinks of himself as the Main Man....can do no wrong...

Arrogance....

[melody]

6. exactly

The bug in his ear has been replaced by a bug up his butt. He believes his own press.

It's the beginning of the final end of this miserable thug of a human being.

[NWHarkness]

5. Where was the man who performed so ably in the days following 9-11?

The answer to that is easy.

Bush was the same boob then that he is now, his "leadership" was all PR, a myth pushed by the media because they thought it would tear the country apart to know who was really in the oval office.

[aquart]

7. My LTTE:

I am stunned that people believe the carefully manufactured myth of George W. Bush's goodness and competence after 9/11. I live in lower Manhattan and I see no difference between his behavior then and now.

When it was happening, and he knew it, he did nothing. A disaster in a metropolitan area and he didn't even ask about the people. Either time.

No preparation for the anticipated disaster except to ignore the evidence. Either time.

Talk afterwards, promises, little action.

New York dug itself out, with the help of Americans across the country (I still cry when I think of how wonderful they were). Bush took the photo op and the credit, but all he did was bail out the airlines, whose negligence made them liable for huge damages. In doing so, he basically worked a tort reform just for the WTC. Take what we want to give you without knowing what it will be, but to find out, you have to sign away your right to sue. So his first effort was against, not for, the families and survivors.

Bush did nothing for New York. We had to fight for every promised dime, and then he reneged on health care for our rescuers, the people who really did help. Some of them have died begging for care and promised help. Just like in New Orleans.

There is no contrast between 9/11 and New Orleans. Bush did nothing till he was forced to, both times.

Only this time, we aren't blinded by the intense patriotism that turned the nation into a sea of flags. (In Manhattan, flags ran out. So the newspapers printed them for us to display. When the bridge opened again, my mother brought me a yarn bracelet, twisted with the colors red, white, and blue for me to wear because I couldn't find a flag. I still wear it.) All the while, Bush's Environmental Protection Agency was lying to us about the air quality, putting Americans needlessly at risk.

Please tell me what's different. This is the same man. The same administration. Only now you see.

[RamboLiberal]

9. Great letter - I hope it gets published

I was really touched by it.

[mikita]

12. I almost burst a blood vessel

when I read "performed ably yada yada".... your letter has calmed me down. Thank you for such lucid, TRUE, words.....

I so hope it gets published, OVER and OVER....

:hug:

[Catfight]

10. I never get the 9/11 bravado from little w as he performed so

ably. I thought he had a chance to unite the world, instead, he sold out, protected bin laden and his family, and divided this world more than any other man in history. Little w has been a failure in all his endeavors. He's a rich spoiled boy who likes to vacation and play all day..the entitlement president. He knows nothing about suffering, hardships, and getting by on his own. He's the thumb-sucking buffoon of a president. I wish we'd already be in impeachment because I think American's have been shamed by this idiot for too long. This man can't even save his political capitol without squandering it to the highest bidder...that would be the religious money sucking monsters grabbing for the coffers.

[Demeter]

11. Calling Bush a Politician Insults Politians Everywhere

Bush is nothing less than a fascist robber baron, fit only for imprisonment for life in solitary.