-
- I
Was Wrong About Bush
News/Current
Events
Editorial
Keywords: BUSH,LEADERSHIP
Source: OpinionJournal.com
Published: 09/25/2001
Author: Gerald
Posner
Posted on 09/24/2001
21:18:38 PDT
by Fury
What
a difference 10 months
make. Last November I
broke the unwritten rule
that requires journalists
to be neutral political
observers when I got
embroiled in the
controversy over the
presidential election and
publicly supported Al
Gore.
It
was not just with friends
that I passionately
argued the election had
been stolen and that Mr.
Gore would be the better
president. I was one of
the signatories to the
pompously titled
"Emergency Committee
of Concerned Citizens
2000," which took
full-page ads in the New
York Times demanding a
revote in Palm Beach
County, Fla. I wrote
op-eds for Salon.com and
the New York Daily News.
On television talk shows
from MSNBC to Fox News's
popular "The
O'Reilly Factor," I
made the case for Mr.
Gore. In thousands of
e-mails, I urged voters
to deluge Clay Roberts,
director of Florida's
Division of Elections,
with appeals for a
recount.
Of
course, I did not know
whether the election had
gone for Mr. Gore or
George W. Bush. As a
partisan, I did not care.
I was convinced that Mr.
Gore was by far the
best-qualified candidate
and the man most fit to
lead the U.S. Mr. Bush
was not only untested
nationally, but he seemed
to me bereft of the
character or intellect to
become a real leader, and
I feared that four years,
and possibly eight, under
Mr. Bush would set the
country back.
How
wrong I was. Since the
murderous terror attacks
on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon,
President Bush has come
alive in a way I did not
think possible. It was as
though the attack on
America--which he rightly
called an "act of
war" from the
start--gave him a focus
and clarity I had not
earlier seen.
If
there was a single event
that convinced me my
initial feelings were
wrong, it was the
president's rather
remarkable speech to the
country and a joint
session of Congress last
Thursday. Like Franklin
Roosevelt or Winston
Churchill, he rallied a
country's spirit, he had
the courage to tell us
the bad news that the
upcoming battle would be
neither swift nor easy,
and he declared that
those who would destroy
our culture and values
would not prevail.
I
had always found Mr. Bush
stiff in his scripted
speeches. But last
Thursday he was infused
with passion and outrage.
His sincerity was
heartfelt, and boosted
almost all who listened
to him. And precisely
because we all know he is
not a masterful orator,
the power of his words
and the forcefulness of
his delivery carried even
more impact. He rose to
this most important
occasion.
Sometimes
historians wonder whether
great leaders are made by
the crises they confront,
or whether they would be
great leaders even in
untroubled times. More
often than not, real
leadership flourishes
when faced with imminent
threats and dangers. That
is what America faces at
the start of the 21st
century from a radical
perversion of Islam. And
President Bush showed all
of us who doubted him,
and who voted against
him, that he is indeed a
leader.
There
will be numerous tests
for him in the long
battle ahead. But, as of
now, he has converted
many of us to admirers,
and he deserves our
complete support. The
entire administration,
from Colin Powell to
Donald Rumsfeld to Dick
Cheney, inspires more
confidence as we embark
on this uncertain war
than we likely would have
had in any Gore
administration.
I
must sadly admit that
Bill Clinton, for whom I
voted twice, could not
have delivered that same
clear speech last
Thursday. His almost
compulsive need to please
all sides would have
prevented him from
casting the issues as
starkly or as
unequivocally.
My
late father used to tell
me that one of the
hallmarks of good
character is the courage
to admit mistakes. Most
people who lock
themselves into a public
position want to keep
defending their original
stance, even when in
their heart they know
subsequent events have
proven them incorrect.
Well,
I was vocal last year in
stating my firm belief
that the wrong man was
elected president. Now I
am compelled to admit I
was mistaken. The best
man for this incredibly
hard campaign is now
president. I suspect many
of my fellow Democrats
feel exactly the same
way.
Mr.
Posner is the author of
numerous books including
"Case Closed: Lee
Harvey Oswald and the
Assassination of JFK.