EVERY president grows in office. Chester Arthur, a lifelong crooked hack,
founded the U.S. Civil Service once accidentally propelled into office.

I can believe Bush was scared, confused, afraid of dying on Tuesday. He's a
human being and unlike the rest of us, had an especially big fat target
painted on his forehead that day. He should have done better, but I can cut
him some slack. I would have been scared, too, and while I hope I would have
acted like the New York fire chief who led his men into the basement to help
the victims get out of the building before it fell or like Rudy or Don
Rumsfeld, I might, in fact, have acted just like George Bush. You never know
what you'll do until you face it, no matter what you've done in the past.

I find it much harder to forgive his failure to visit and comfort the
victims in NYC today or tomorrow.

I wish Clinton was president, or Gore, or Daschle, or Gephardt or Dole
(either one) or McCain or Cheney or Bush Sr or goddamn near anybody else.
But he asked for it, and he's got it now.

He is, as you say, both weak and stupid. I would add, pampered and lazy.
In some respects, Bush panders to and reflects the worst in America's own
character. We can quibble about the election results, but he certainly DID
get a huge number of votes.

The days when the death of or a dozen or so Army Rangers could drive us off
the field of battle I think must be behind us. I think we are going to have
to sacrifice not only blood, but treasure, comfort and many of our favorite
illusions, if we are to preserve this country.

America is a great country and you can see men and women of character
stepping up to their responsibilities. The quality of broadcast journalism
took an immediate turn for the better. Men like the Mueller, the new FBI
director, and Colin Powell, the secretary of state, and especially the anonymous
unarmed heroes onboard the flight that crashed in Pennylvania--all of these require
leadership of our president whether he is exactly ready to lead or not.

sh