NY Times Op Ed Columnist Maureen Dowd writes in her recent opinion piece,
There's an angry mother of a dead soldier camping outside [George W. Bush's] Crawford ranch, demanding to see a president who prefers his sympathy to be carefully choreographed... Cindy Sheehan, a 48-year-old Californian with a knack for P.R., says she will camp out in the dusty heat near the ranch until she gets to tell Mr. Bush face to face that he must pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Her son, Casey, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in a Sadr City ambush last year.
The president met with her family two months after Casey's death... Ms. Sheehan said that W. had referred to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting, and given her the sense that he did not know who her son was.
The Bush team tried to discredit "Mom" by pointing reporters to an old article in which she sounded kinder to W. If only her husband were an undercover C.I.A. operative, the Bushies could out him...
It's amazing that the White House does not have the elementary shrewdness to have Mr. Bush simply walk down the driveway and hear the woman out, or invite her in for a cup of tea. But W., who has spent nearly 20 percent of his presidency at his ranch, is burrowed into his five-week vacation...
Bush is so caught up in what the Economist called an "addiction to playing hardball with the Democrats" that he can't distinguish between a mother's personal anguish and a political attack. Bill Clinton would have invited her in for lunch, hugged her, shed a few tears, and had her standing with him for a photo-op in half an hour. Because Clinton understood what the Republicans never will: what people desire more is a feeling of shared understanding and warmth--not shared anger and hatred. If Hillary has the emotional savvy of her husband, they will be choosing new drapes for the Oval Office in three and a half years.
4 comments:
I just don't understand so many people (as indicated in the polls) can think that Bush is a "nice man." He is clearly the most mean spirited, spiteful man to be President since Richard Nixon. And runs a close 2nd to Nixon for meanness among all Presidents.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
Bush runs a close second to Nixon for administration secrecy as well. I seen constant Nixon-like patterns in this White House. And remember what Nixon's problem was? Inferiority complex. That is what Bush suffers from. It's all there.
What's worse, he needs a 5 week vacation. After spending nearly 40% of this time away from Washington, the leader of the "free world" needs a 5 week vacation? And beings that he is on vacation with so much time on his hands, why not have a chat with Mrs. Sheehan. Actually, I'd be insulted at him calling me "mom" as if it were my name. It is a way of making that woman generic. Not only did he not know her name, he didn't know her son's. I agree with her- you take something that precious away from me, you had better damn well know my name and my face.
I am surprised the secret service is letting her camp out. I would have expected them to clear her off by now.
// posted by USWest
nice, cozy place you got here :)..
// posted by guile
When it comes to people saying my name, no one makes my name sound more digusting or vile as when it comes out of the mouths of politicians. Actually, Democrats have a way of saying my name and making it actually sound cool, as if we've been or have become life long friends. A Republican says my name and I just want to throw up, I feel violated...so if I was Ms. Sheehan, I would have kindly asked President Bush to refrain from calling me "mom" and just leave it at Ms. Sheehan.
// posted by Siddharthwolf@gmail.com
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