Sorry. He should have given this speech two Fridays ago. It's not the speech of a man who has repented for his mistakes (yes, there were local mistakes, but they're not the only ones) but the desperation of a politican whose poll numbers have sunk below 40 and is growing increasingly desperate that he can't weasel his way out of this one, and is thinking about next year's Congressional elections. When I think of the emotion in the speech, all I can think of was the hearing aid he had in the first debate last year where Karl Rove was hissing instructions into his ear. "You look good there, Sir. Just tilt your head to the right a little. Now, put some EMOTION into it." He showed his TRUE colors on that infamous Friday, for all time. That was him. It's THOSE moments when we nend aleader, even if he had to fake it. When the emergency is hot. Instead, it was, "Brownie, you;re doing a heck of a job." "And Trent Lott's house.
When we are unguarded, and the words are unscripted...THAT is who we are.
How many times did he have to rehearse that Reganesque catch in his voice? He might only NOW be feeling SOME empathy, but it is just 2 weeks too F*$(% g late.
Sorry, this time this is not the speech of a non-Bush fan. If this had happened 10 yrs ago, and Clinton had been in power and had bungled the response, I might very well have decided never to vote in a Presidential election again.
I am sorry, but all the damage control and the desire to "make things right" won't ever wipe those pictures out of my head, or bring back the dead, or restore my belief that there isn't real mind-bending HATE for the poor and oppressed in this country. We don't even know what it is we've lost, in all the sugar-coated hype about what we have supposedly gained. Any desire for "repentance" or to "make things right" from now on, just smacks of politcs. "They're not saying any good things here, let's leave." That, accoridng to the conservative Washington Post, was what Bush said that Friday, even as people died yards away. That, for me, will be what it is all about.
For me, it's not even about politics anymore. There is a core of bitterness that won't go away, and it's deeper than any kind of intellectual hate. True, the bitterness is spread out for me--it;s not just the Federal crowd who is guilty. But those are not excuses to make in a time of NATIONAL crisis. So for me, whoever sits in the White House, regardless of party, in times like these should be held most to scrutiny, and should LEAD--if only be speaking at the right time. Now, it's all politcs.
PS Sorry if I repeated myself. But I'm just so damned bitter. The sugar-coated happy stories of heroism (Like the one I;m aobut to post) don't cut it anymore....