I strongly disagree with Jon Margolis’ apology
for George Bush (HCN, 3/29/04: Bush is a man of his word: He’s
audacious, but should that be surprising?).
There used to
be qualities such as decency, broad-mindedness and vision in our
leaders. Having won the presidency with less votes than his
opponent, only because of the quirky math of the electoral college
system, Bush should have been especially sensitive to the need for
balance in our nation.
A decent man would have been
careful not to force an extreme, right-wing agenda on the half of
the country that voted against him, just because he had the chance.
A visionary man would have seen past the short-term political
calculations of the next election, which argued for enriching his
special-interest donors and his ideological base, and instead
worked to build lasting coalitions to improve our nation and our
world for generations.
Bush has demonstrated none of
these qualities. And America is much the worse because of that.
T.A. Barron
Boulder,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Don’t apologize for Bush.
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