A Cameo: GW Reaching Out

Courtesy of PowerLine, excerpts from a piece written by a rabbi on a rare meeting with the president in 2003:

During the 10-day period between the Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement -- the "days of awe" that are the holiest on the Jewish calendar -- the president sought out 16 rabbis from around the country to meet with him in Washington. No member of the press was present. The photo below was provided to the rabbis by the White House photographer after the meeting. At our request, Rabbi Ginsburg emailed us his account of the meeting (the subject headings are Rabbi Ginsburg's) together with a digital copy of the photograph upon his return to St. Paul. We posted Rabbi Ginsburg's 2003 report as follows:

It started with a phone call from Senator Coleman the Monday night before Rosh Hashanah telling me that the President wanted to meet with a few rabbis right after Rosh Hashanah, and asking me if I could go to Washington to meet with him. Senator Coleman told me that I could expect a call from the White House.

He spoke about his need to stand firm, the need to support the forces for peace in the world, but that there are cold blooded murderers he has to deal with. He said he's not anti-Muslim, he's not anti-Palestinian. He does believe there should be a Palestinian state someday, but he's anti-Palestinians who are terrorists. He ended by saying, "This is not a political event. Keep your politics close to your vests. I just wanted to talk with rabbis during the ten days of awe" (or close to that).

When Bush woke up in the morning, he looked out of his hotel window, and it was Jerusalem in its golden hue. He talked about how humbling it is to know that millions of people pray for him every day, and the sacred responsibility that entails. We mentioned that in our synagogues every Shabbat, we offer a prayer for him and for the government of the United States. He said he prays every day that God blesses him with patience, wisdom and strength, and "I'm weak enough to know that I need God's strength and support."

I was just stunned to be sitting across the table from the most powerful person in the world, a man of true humility and belief in one God, who spent much of this hour and a quarter, speaking from the depth of his heart about his concern about anti-Semitism and his understanding of Israel's predicament. I know many disagree with policies of his. I'm sure every rabbi there had some disagreements. But there was no denying the moment, the genuineness, the power of the experience. It felt surreal.

Please read the entire piece.

G. W. Bush, His Local Critics, and His Foreign Critics

George W. Bush. Dubya. Bush. Or even simply, W.

Short words that when read conjure bad images typically coming from non-supporters, political rivals, many foreign leaders (both political and religious, but dominantly Middle Eastern), media people, and even coming from hordes of uncredentialed bloggers and commenters, and email list members.

I say typically because I find most of his supporters are quite reticent, silent, or even circumspect when mentioning those names in their discourses.

And I do mean bad images, typically through words or statements of ridicule, of pejorative charges and claims to all aspects of the man from his actions to his personal traits, etc. Thus, typically negative and damning images.

And the incessant and sustained cadence of these bad images has been liberally dispersed out there since the first days that this sitting US president sat on his office after a very hotly-contested election that saw him favored via a Supreme Court decision.

And in my opinion, the tipping point was reached during this most recent visit to the UN and US of the petty head of state from an oil-rich though still impoverished South American country, Venezuela, in the person of Hugo Chavez.

According to Mr.Chavez, the above short words can now be replaced with his following own words:

Alcoholic. A Sick Man with a lot of hang-ups. A devil (many times over). A tyrant. Walks Like John Wayne.

Given the absurdity, the silliness, the unabashed cruelty of such labels, one wonders how it has come to this. That a head of state of a country could come to US soil, spout those insults cavalierly against its people through its duly-elected president, and not face any summary recrimination or violent response.

But I believe many of us know why. And we could probably glean the why from the surprising reaction of some Democratic operatives, the least likely sources that would defend the person and honor of the sitting president.

Listen, we ourselves as Americans have empowered those unkind kinds of people to develop the unmitigated gall and temerity to hurl such condemnable insults and inanities at such close quarters. We have with our own actions made them think it is okay and fashionable to do such things, for after all we are doing it ourselves in our own turf and with impunity.

We, Americans, have also replaced those short words with our own original versions, and tacitly given license for foreign detractors to mimic them.

Fucking liar. Fucking crooks and thieves. Genocidal Racist. A white knuckle drunk. An uptight Christian. Idiot. Hitler. Etc.

Sound familiar?

And amidst this incessant and endless harangues that could easily unravel any normal person, what and how does the unlucky man in the middle respond?

Here’s what the Anchoress reveals:

. . . .concerning one man who has never - not once -repaid them back in kind. Not in speeches. Not to the press. Not to “friendly audiences.” He came to town talking about “changing the tone,” and that’s what happened, in a perverse way. One side’s tone went rabid, the other side went nearly-silent, but this one man…kept his tone.

So to all out there, let us pause a bit and bow our heads in humble supplication.

In shame, if we are guilty of such outrageous demeanor.

And for the rest, in prayer and earnest plea that the man continues his mastery of his self-control and be accorded the necessary wisdom as he continues to wade through “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, outrageous circumstances, and outrageous detractors.