A Defense Of Bush

Less than two hours from now, President Bush will address the nation live from New Orleans. And not too long after that, anxious aides will address the president: "For Christ's sakes, don't drink that!" This speech from French Quarter - or as GOP Congressmen will soon rename it, "Freedom Quarter" - culminates nearly two weeks of damage control by the beleagured administration. But should this really be necessary?

Now, regular readers of Lomblog know that I've long been a fierce Bush critic. In fact, I once wrote, "If George W. Bush is elected president, the strong economy of the Nineties will disappear, he will bungle his way through a needless war in the Middle East, and large portions of the Gulf Coast will be destroyed." Pretty spooky, isn't it? What's more, I wrote that in 1989, when Bush was merely part-owner of the Texas Rangers. I guess I just have a way of sizing people up - in the same piece, I predicted that Richard Grieco's film career would go nowhere. However, I also suggested big, big things for Simply Red. Oh, the fickle ways of prophecy.

Anyway, I still think some of the hits the president has been taking lately are unfair.

For instance, all the talk about his famous five-week vacation. He was accused of insensitivity because he biked with Lance Armstrong during Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protests and plucked a guitar with country star Mark Wills during the earliest days of Katrina. But such revelry is far from unusual for a president facing a crisis.

Once again, history puts it all in perspective:



Here's FDR, just hours after Pearl Harbor, enjoying some friendly competion with one of the country's earliest racing stars.

What of "the Great Communicator", Ronald Reagan? He memorably eulogized the Challenger astronauts after they "slipped the surly bonds of Earth", but not before jamming on keytar with the lead singer of Norwegian supergroup A-ha.




And then there was JFK. During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the fate of the world itself hung in the balance, he was photographed having a three-way with Marilyn Monroe and Angie Dickenson.



Insensitive? I call it "balancing work and play."