I absolutely agree. G.W. Bush has forever fallen in our view from any dignified image other than a cheerleader for the troops.
He needed to be front and center with his voice and bully pulpit to the press standing right next to the Kelo's.
That he has remained silent shows he is out of touch, similar to his father, nice man, good military leader, poor American leader.
I remember the disgust that conservatives had for Bush the Elder on his pandering and appeasement of liberals, his escapes out of the country on foreign visits of any kind, avoiding the criticisms of caving into tax increases and weakly responding to a deep recession spurred in part by his policy appeasement. His "don't bother me with the little people's concerns" attitude brought about the emergence of Ross Perot that split the party and handed Clinton the Presidency by less than a majority.
Now Bush the younger is doing the same avoiding of the concerns of ordinary people, ignoring the erosion of rights of citizens, failing to show that he cares about their plight, that he will do whatever he can to help them, that he will push to reverse the Kelo decision by appointing strict constructionists to the Supreme Court and directing the Congress and lawyers for the RNC to revisit the issue and reverse it.
Bush the Younger will give us moderate justices, he will support the continued erosion of our rights by invoking fear of terrorism, and he may be right that the threat is real and the fear should be genuine. But if we lose our basic freedoms in the process what good will any of his actions have done?
But in the Kelo case, there is no connection with terrorism. There is no reason to slink back and ignore the decision's implications. There is no fear of anything by which to invoke a restriction on the freedom of property. There is no good reason for G.W. Bush to be silent in this. Is his reason for not speaking out that it is not within his powers as President? If this is his reason then the Republicans can kiss the White House and their majority in Congress goodbye because Bill Clinton just struck a chord with the concerns of the common citizen.