Then came the sharp left turn into Iraq - a war promoted on dubious evidence by people who routinely denounced "nation building" and whose motivations remain murky to this day.
That's when the president began slowly to lose popular support. What is now left of that support is crumbling. Most of us were happy when Saddam Hussein's regime fell. But some of us, even in the early days of the Iraq war, believed that war to be unwinnable. Now, most of us have come to believe that our subsequent prosecution of the war exposed the embarrassing incompetence of our military to understand that there are no military avenues to nation-building.
And today, as in the past, the American people think of the war as something we watch on our TV sets. We are not personally invested. We are increasingly disconnected. The president hasn't really talked to his people - until his plummeting poll numbers scared the pants off his advisors. So we still have difficulty understanding why there were no weapons of mass destruction, why we were not greeted as "liberators", and why most Iraqis want us out of their country.
The opportunity of 9/11 is gone. Missed. Bullhorn in hand, hardhat on head, standing in the ruins of Ground Zero, George W. Bush had every chance of bringing our country together - remember, even before 9/11, how he told us he would be a "uniter"? Well, he blew it.
It is much too early to write the history of the Bush years. But, regardless of how our Iraq adventure ends, my guess is that the Bush presidency will be remembered as one that left us divided, diverted, and uncertain of our country's future and its role in the world.
It will take a generation of yet-unknown leadership to bring us together.
That's why I'm disappointed. That's why I feel such a deep sense of sadness and loss for our president.
That's when the president began slowly to lose popular support. What is now left of that support is crumbling. Most of us were happy when Saddam Hussein's regime fell. But some of us, even in the early days of the Iraq war, believed that war to be unwinnable. Now, most of us have come to believe that our subsequent prosecution of the war exposed the embarrassing incompetence of our military to understand that there are no military avenues to nation-building.
And today, as in the past, the American people think of the war as something we watch on our TV sets. We are not personally invested. We are increasingly disconnected. The president hasn't really talked to his people - until his plummeting poll numbers scared the pants off his advisors. So we still have difficulty understanding why there were no weapons of mass destruction, why we were not greeted as "liberators", and why most Iraqis want us out of their country.
The opportunity of 9/11 is gone. Missed. Bullhorn in hand, hardhat on head, standing in the ruins of Ground Zero, George W. Bush had every chance of bringing our country together - remember, even before 9/11, how he told us he would be a "uniter"? Well, he blew it.
It will take a generation of yet-unknown leadership to bring us together.
That's why I'm disappointed. That's why I feel such a deep sense of sadness and loss for our president.
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