Considering that we are only about two weeks into President Bush’s monster five week vacation, there’s a good chance that we are going to be hearing stories about Cindy Sheehan until after Labor Day or so. Sheehan’s attempts to get an audience with the President have long passed the point where they have become national news, and with hundreds of like-minded protesters joining her (at a larger, closer protest area, courtesy of a sympathetic Bush neighbor) the story doesn’t seem to be fading out anytime soon. Of course, Bush could take the air right out of this particular balloon by giving Sheehan a few minutes of his time and sending her on her way. But it seems as if Compassionate Conservative Numero Uno has other priorities:
“But whether it be here or in Washington or anywhere else, there’s somebody who has got something to say to the president, that’s part of the job,” Bush said on the ranch. “And I think it’s important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say.”
“But,” he added, “I think it’s also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life.”
The comments came prior to a bike ride on the ranch with journalists and aides. It also came as the crowd of protesters grew in support of Sheehan, the California mother who came here Aug. 6 demanding to talk to Bush about the death of her son Casey.
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“I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy,” he said when asked about bike riding while a grieving mom wanted to speak with him. “And part of my being is to be outside exercising.”
He needs to go on with his life. Good for him. Tell that to the 49 soldiers who have died in Iraq in the two weeks since Bush left Washington DC for his “me time”. Tell that to any of those soldiers’ families who, like Cindy Sheehan, want their losses to be justified with more than empty slogans of “noble causes”. Somehow Bush has been able to make time in his busy exercise schedule to go to Republican fundraisers and a little league game, but finding a half hour to meet with the mother of a dead U.S. soldier is beyond his capabilities.
It’s not beyond his capabilities, of course. Bush says that part of the job is talking to those with “something to say”, and it’s great that he wants to be thoughtful and sensitive to such people. But all the thoughtfulness and sensitivity in the world are worthless when Bush won’t even allow the conversation to happen. It’s yet another part of a disturbing pattern where the President is isolated from anyone who vocally disagrees with his policies. Other than the current situation with Cindy Sheehan, the examples are numerous: Protesters that were separated from Bush with buses or were herded into “free speech zones” miles away from him. Social Security “town meetings” and campaign speeches where only hand-picked supporters were allowed to attend. The continuing refusal to speak with to the NAACP.
In comparison, I refer back to this photograph that Matt shot twelve years ago of then-President Bill Clinton:
I took this photo in 1993 at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. It was Bill Clinton’s first visit to to my hometown since taking office, and protesters were out in significant numbers to be heard about a chemical incinerator in the area. Not in a different terminal, not in a free speech zone in the parking lot, but front and center. The woman bending Clinton’s ear in the photo was closer to him than I was.
The two photos are a microcosm of the last two presidencies. Clinton wasn’t persuaded by the woman’s arguments, and allowed the incinerator to move forward, but she was allowed to speak with the then-President in person.
As Matt recalled, Clinton’s stop in Pittsburgh was only supposed to consist of a quick speech before moving on to the next appearance. But he wound up staying later than the planned hour in order to talk with people along the rope line, and the woman protesting in the photo got a full five minutes of his attention. In stark comparison, Bush can’t be bothered to interrupt a two-hour bike ride or his fishing time to talk to a war mother who is almost-literally outside his door. The only way it seems that Cindy Sheehan will get her audience is for her to start contributing money to the Republican party.
Bush is right about one thing, though—the public does indeed want the president to be in a position to make good decisions, though we’re still trying to figure out what a “crisp decision” is…maybe he was contemplating potato chip flavors or something. But if Bush believes that riding his bike is the key to all the great decisions he’s made so far in Iraq, than maybe someone should take it away from him. It doesn’t seem to be working all that well.