A tale of two presidents

George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush quietly spent time visiting Ft. Hood to meet with families and express their care and condolences in person:

Former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura secretly visited Fort Hood last night and spent “considerable time” consoling those who were wounded in Thursday’s shooting spree, Fox News has learned.

The Bushes entered and departed the sprawling military facility in secret, having told the base commander they did not want press coverage of their visit, a source told Fox News.

The couple was described as “deeply concerned” about military families on Fort Hood after Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire on soldiers and civilians, killing 13 and wounding 38.

The Bushes, who have a 1,600-acre property known as Prairie Chapel Ranch less than 30 miles from Fort Hood in central Texas, spent between one and two hours visiting the wounded and their families.

 

President & Mrs. Obama on the other hand made plans for a little time away from it all:

President Obama’s Saturday Schedule

11:25AM THE PRESIDENT addresses the House Democratic Caucus – Cannon House Office Building

2:30PM THE PRESIDENT makes a statement to the press on Health Care – Rose Garden

2:45PM THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart The White House en route Camp David – South Lawn

A vacation?  A little time off for him and the family?  Now to be fair, the President is planning on attending the memorial service at Ft. Hood on Tuesday, and his presence on site would be quite disruptive in many ways because of security issues.  Even so, one would think that he’d recognize the importance of appearances and after his rather odd reaction to the shooting, it really does raise serious questions about Obama’s character.  From the Telegraph:

More serious perhaps was Mr Obama’s strange disconnectedness over the Fort Hood massacre of 13 soldiers by an Army major and devout Muslim who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had praised suicide bombing and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he opened fire.

When the television networks cut to the President, viewers listened to him spend more than two surreal minutes talking to a gathering of Native Americans about their “extraordinary” and “extremely productive” conference, pausing to give a cheery “shout out” to a man named Dr Joe Medicine Crow. Only then did he briefly and mechanically address what had happened in Texas.

On Friday, when most of the basic facts were available, Mr Obama tried again. It was scarcely any better. He began by offering “an update on the tragedy that took place” – as if it was an earthquake and not a terrorist attack from an enemy within – and ended with a promise for more “updates in the coming days and weeks”.

And here’s the key quote which I believe speaks powerfully to Obama’s character:

Completely missing was the eloquence that Mr Obama employs when talking about himself. Absent too was any sense that the President empathised with the families and comrades of those murdered.

That is it exactly.  Obama is excited about nothing other than that which concerns Obama himself.  His irritation with Fox News, his increasingly obvious thin-skin, his extravagant date nights with Michelle are all about him.  Indeed one gets the distinct feeling that the passage of health care legislation has little to do with any real desire to deal with the problems associated with skyrocketing health care costs, and has much to do with his ego.  George Bush, for all his faults  which were many, seemed to be a man certainly convinced of his rightness, but also deeply concerned and aware of the consequences of his actions.  He rarely expressed anger at the many jabs, fair and unfair that were thrown at him, and left the office as good-naturedly  as he’d entered.

President Obama?  Not so much

 

 

 

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