The President's Amazing Journey

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | March 19, 2003 | David M. Shribman

[Eye4nEye]

As a young man, he drifted in a carefree way. Now he is approaching a frightening crossroads.

Now begins another great transformation in the life of President Bush. He has changed before, of course. He was a carefree young man, full of a liberating spirit and, ominously, almost a slave to spirits, and then, just in time, he underwent a dramatic change, adopting sobriety as a lifestyle -- and as an outlook in life. He was a guileless governor, drifting effortlessly through politics in a state that asked little of its chief executive and expected even less. But when the rap of opportunity's knock jolted him awake, he took on a presidential campaign that showed the voters, and the Democrats, that there was strength beneath his soft smile.

[Mr. Mulliner]

Now Bush is on the verge of becoming a war president

What was going on in Afghanistan, a game of tiddly-winks? And has the whole war on terrorism gone unnoticed here? How is President Bush "on the verge" of becoming a war president?

[barker]

He's not on the verge. He is already a great president. My heroes have always been cowboys.

[SunStar]

I'm sure the author flippantly brushed Afghanistan aside for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the Taliban didn't really fight us, they didn't have an organized military, there are no real cities or infrastructure, etc.

I'm sure the author would love to squabble about these and other differences, but in the end, Bush will have liberated two nations from tyranny.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Forgive the writer for a bit of editorial liberty. The line is fitting and I'm glad George W. Bush has the resolve to do the right thing.

[Mr. Mulliner]

the Taliban didn't really fight us, they didn't have an organized military, there are no real cities or infrastructure

Doesn't sound so different than Iraq, does it? LOL!

[Mr. Mulliner]

I'm sorry, but this writer sounds like a typical Johnny-come-lately. You know, the ones who say that Bush is an accidental president and suddenly became a leader only after September 11.

I appreciate even this kind of praise for President Bush coming from a journalist, but don't have to respect his lack of insight into how the president's leadership and character were forged long before September 11.

[anniegetyourgun]

Spot on....I would suggest that this writer STILL doesn't get it.

[Cicero]

I wasn't absolutely certain Bush would turn out to be a good president, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt during the election campaign. He looked good then, from what little the press let us see of him, and since then he has proven that it wasn't just empty show.

He has, in my opinion, a really remarkable balance of good conservative vision and political smarts. He doesn't commit political suicide trying to do the impossible, the way some Freepers would like him to do, but instead he works and works until he changes the political battlefield and it becomes possible.

[Mr. Mulliner]

I agree completely with your assessment of the president. I'm more than happy to sacrifice or postpone some "principled" victories for the chance to see the liberal hate-America-first crowd go down in flaming defeat.

[veronica]

He was a man who avoided responsibility and who, after Sept. 11, 2001, found himself with the responsibility of consoling a stunned nation and mobilizing it all at once. Shortly after the terrorist attack, one of his political associates, former New Hampshire Attorney General Thomas D. Rath, had a private moment with the president. He spoke of Bush's burden, saying that no one asks for these kinds of responsibilities. The president responded coolly: "Yes, they do."

This part is certainly revealing. The rest of it is pablum. I have been thinking lately that no man who runs for POTUS knows what to expect, nor what fate will send his way, but this President has been tested unlike any in my lifetime. And the people who have always thought of him as a lightweight have been proven wrong over and over again...