The president who once dared militants to “bring ‘em on” is getting a bit misty in his final weeks, taking frequent opportunities to explore his sensitive side while discussing his legacy — from the importance of his Christian faith to his conviction that, sometimes, all we need is love.
In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush referred to the “loving influence of God” and called on those battling addiction “to seek treatment, because your life is precious to the people who love you.”
In defending federal anti-drug programs recently, the president said: “Government must not fear places of love.” In a television interview, he pondered God’s love and how he seeks to show “appreciation for that love.” At a meeting with children of prisoners this month, he extolled the virtues of loving those who are less fortunate.
”Oh, it takes some time, it takes a little bit of extra love, but by helping a child, you can really help the country,” he said in North Carolina. “You help yourself by loving, but you help America — one heart, one soul at a time.”
“I believe that when people join organizations to love their neighbor, that is . . . not only a recruiting tool, but it’s a powerful incentive for effectiveness on the ground,” Bush said at a World AIDS Day event on Dec. 1, accompanied by the first lady…
“My relationship is on a personal basis trying to become as [close] to the Almighty as I possibly can get,” Bush said. “And I’ve got a lot of problems. I mean, I got, you know, the ego . . . all the things that prevent me from being closer to the Almighty. So, I don’t analyze my relationship with the good Lord in terms of, well, you know, God has plucked you out or God wants you to do this. I know this: I know that the call is to better understand and live out your life according to the will of God.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/13/AR2008121301724.html?hpid%3Dsec-politics&sub=AR
Torture, Katrina, Iraq…how full of love and sensitivity to others can you get?
We note in those quotes above that ‘love’ is tied almost invariably to ‘the Almighty’ and we’ll not suggest that the man might be exempt from much empathy outside of some dutiful religious assumption of such feelings and conceptions. But we will note that he’s not talking to me or hardly anyone I know. He’s talking to the religious conservative base.
This project isn’t merely an attempt to salvage his reputation for historians’ consideration. It’s an attempt to salvage a propaganda narrative regarding the Republican party and conservatism, particularly in the minds of religious conservatives. The party and the movement are in trouble and without the enthusiasm and activism of the religious base, they are doomed electorally. Bush’s approval ratings are in the basement (lower than Nixon’s) and a fundamental goal of this legacy project is to attempt to create and promote an alternate narrative (an alternate version of reality – or, myth) regarding the last eight years.
