Asia Times: Epiphany for a president

[unhappycamper]

Epiphany for a president
By Henry C K Liu
Sep 17, 2005

On Thursday night, the president of the United States, the strongest nation in the world, spoke with the forceful leadership worthy of the awesome power of his office. For the first time in his presidency, George W Bush told the American people and the world that the American spirit of courage, community, equity and unbound optimism is alive and well, and he intends to galvanize that spirit towards a noble national purpose of reconstruction. "I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution," he said.

The insurance industry categorizes hurricanes as acts of god. Yet the recovery from damages from acts of god is dependent on the courage of humans. While the accountability of the failure to prevent foreseeable disaster will no doubt be sorted out through exhaustive investigations and public hearings at all levels over time, the Katrina disaster can be viewed as a godsend opportunity for Bush to redirect a nation floundering in its purpose and to bail out a debt-infested economy on the verge of collapse.

If there is one lesson from Katrina more glaringly obvious than all others, it is that government is indispensable for guarding and preserving the welfare of a community and a nation. Despite run-away anti-statist sentiments that have run amok in recent decades in the US, strong central government is not the enemy of freedom, or volunteerism or local autonomy. In the US federal structure, the federal government by its nature is endowed with resources and powers that state and local governments individually do not possess. For this reason, states have by constitution yielded certain powers to the federal government for the collective benefit of the union.

E pluribus unum - from many, one - is the motto of the nation proposed for the first Great Seal of the United States by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in 1776. As such, the federal government must assume responsibilities that are beyond the capability of state or local governments, or a private sector operating on market forces or volunteerism. While a strong federal response to national emergencies is not an argument for encouraging state and local inefficiency, or market failure or neglect of volunteerism, the federal government cannot excuse its failure to exercise its responsibilities in a national emergency by hiding behind the subtleties of federalism and state rights or the merits of small government.

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[rodeodance]

1. "spoke the forceful leadership"--I do not think it was all at force nor

convincing. The whole scene was just too scripted.

[asjr]

2. He always has to have a script. I said in another

thread yesterday that at the end of his speech, I expected to see credits roll with God Bless America softly playing in the background.

[babylonsister]

3. The words * spoke last night were too little, too late.

And they were so out of character with the guy we know and hate. He obviously has no compassion so he didn't snow me; promises, promises, never to be realized. I prefer him to be outa sight, outa mind.

[tonkatoy57]

4. O Brother

"On Thursday night, the president of the United States, the strongest nation in the world, spoke with the forceful leadership worthy of the awesome power of his office. For the first time in his presidency, George W Bush told the American people and the world that the American spirit of courage, community, equity and unbound optimism is alive and well, and he intends to galvanize that spirit towards a noble national purpose of reconstruction."

Give me just a second. I need to clean the puke off my shirt and shoes.

That was a little over the top, don't you think?

Someone should check Mr. Liu's bank statement to see if there is a check from the White House that's been recently deposited.