About The President

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More than a few of the anti-Miers crowd have mocked me for trusting the judgment of President Bush, and for backing a candidate they found wholly unacceptable. Some have suggested I do not know the "real" George W. Bush. The only answers I can give to this, start with the fact that I do know the real Mr. Bush, probably better than anyone outside of his direct associates and family, Crawford, or the White House, and if that sounds presumptuous of me, so be it. I know him not only from his politics, which is after all only one dimension, but I know his family, and Bush is definitely a man of his family, though that should not be taken to mean that he is all that much like his father, especially given his unique circumstances of office and resume. I also know how Bush handles adversity, which is something a lot of people never see; he’s a lot tougher in the right places, and in the right way. Whenever someone sees a glimmer of Reagan in Dubya, it’s not just because they pursue similar ideals and goals, but also because he has lost his share of fights, sometimes because his opponent fought dirty, and so he is no stuffed-shirt, no faint lily under pressure. Honestly, after everything thrown at him since his 2000 election, you’d think more people would understand that, but never mind.

I would also answer such people, that while I see weaknesses and flaws in Dubya, as is the case with every person, I do not give his opponents anything to use as a weapon against him. And I am very much a Constitutionalist where laws and policies are concerned; the Congress passes the laws, and the President sends troops where they need to go, nominates candidates for various offices, and submits various appeals for new legislation. An emporer he is not, and never tried to be. And as I have often pointed out, more than a few times a failure of an initiative comes down to promises made but not kept by the Congress, especially in some of those many meetings Bush has. To be blunt, most Conservatives would be completely delighted with President Bush, if only the Senate had done in public what it has promised in private. So, where I see an error now and then, I will take my option of writing to the White House, or perhaps speak in general, but I will in no way attack or insult the President. And in my personal opinion, anyone who does so against President Bush is harming the Movement; there is no better general in this fight than Dubya, and some of the Conservative “leaders” are following the mold of Wesley Clark, putting personal opinion ahead of a united resolve. This is, I will concede here, not a perfectly fair opinion, but it has enough of the truth to be generally correct.