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Posted on 09/16/2001 9:33:54 PM PDT by Pokey78

New York City and George W. Bush were never a natural couple until last week. Now Mr. Bush has managed to reach out in ways both symbolic and practical. In its greatest hour of need, the city must be grateful that he rose to the occasion, and demonstrated that he is president of the entire country.

During the first days of this crisis, Mr. Bush could only build a foundation for a new kind of wartime presidency. There will be different challenges every week that will test his ability to lead the nation in a time of crisis. But his first responsibilities were to demonstrate his gravitas, and to comfort the people living at the sites of the terrorist attack. After a shaky start, his speech Friday at the National Cathedral struck the note of somber confidence that the nation was looking for. Later, in his trip to Manhattan, he succeeded in bonding with New York.

Mr. Bush is not generally a fan of big cities. His recent attempt to bill his vacation in Texas as a return to the real American values of the heartland seemed like a repudiation not only of Washington D.C., but urbanity in general. But like almost everyone else, he has been changed by the crisis. On Tuesday, as his security men flew him around the country, he reportedly insisted that he wanted to go "home" — to Washington. If in the past he reflected the country's more Manhattan-phobic side, his ability to transcend those feelings represented its ability to unite.

Anyone who has watched the president over the last year would have been able to predict that his visit with the rescue workers at the World Trade Center site would be a success. Mr. Bush is never better than when he is standing in rough territory in work clothes, talking with working men and women with dirt on their hands. We were frankly less certain that he would show equal sympathy in Washington, when the time came to make a commitment to support the enormous task of beginning restoration of lower Manhattan.

But the president came through with a commitment that was as quick and as generous as this beleaguered city could have wished. The pleas from Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton — high-profile Democrats who could not possibly be on the administration's list of favorite legislators — were met in toto. The senators asked for $20 billion, and they got $20 billion, without hesitation.

In the days to come, some New Yorkers will no doubt have occasion to differ with the president on the decisions he makes, both political and diplomatic. But they will do so as members of the same American family. By his actions over the last week, Mr. Bush has won the first battle of the war.

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