Open Letter to the White House - Words and Deeds
Dear Mr. President:
It's been a busy week for you and your family, I see. First, your brother signed into law a Florida statute removing the requirement that citizens under attack try to flee before applying deadly force. It's a kind of "shoot first, ask questions later" approach that doesn't sit particularly well, but as it happens, the principle is within Jewish law at least. The sages of the past advised us, "If you know that someone is going to kill you tomorrow, get up early and kill him first." So never mind that the idea of killing someone, even a murderous someone, makes me uneasy; please contact your brother and congratulate him on his instinctive understanding of Jewish ethics. Whether this "stand your ground" attitude fits within your own professed Christianity I am far less certain. You claim Jesus Christ as your most important political advisor, so you might want to consult the Church's founder on the subject of turning the other cheek before you follow in your brother's footsteps.
As for your own activities, I note from a National Public Radio broadcast that you were in Galveston yesterday with none other than Tom DeLay, who must have found his presence at a "Round Table" discussion much more congenial than his past and future appearances before the House Ethics Committee. Well, everyone needs a break now and then, and in this case he got to take a break at an ostensibly wide-open event that was actually filled with thorougly vetted partisans of yours. I suppose he thought this would give him some decent publicity as a man willing to confront his opponents, while making it unnecessary for him to actually confront any opponent. In other words, like you, Mr. DeLay clearly enjoys saying one thing and doing something quite different.
This brings me to the main thrust of today's letter, Mr. President. When was the last time you said something in public that you actually believed?
Yesterday you told the Galveston audience that you consider Tom DeLay a very effective leader who gets things done. Brave words. They were and are totally unsupported by your actions, however - you have been distancing yourself from Mr. DeLay for weeks. This is probably good political strategy, since the man is going down very quickly (I'm sure you're aware that Congress took another major step today towards subjecting him to an Ethics Committee scouring), but it certainly doesn't match what you say about him.
Mind you, I am ecstatic that Tom DeLay is being roasted over a slow fire at long last, but I confess to a mild surprise that you would so publicly say something that your actions contradict so completely. You've always been so good at controlling your public image, but you've really left yourself wide open this time.
Even more astonishing to me is your claim that this tour of yours is convincing the nation that you know what you're talking about regarding Social Security. Your poll numbers have been plummeting ever since your last inauguration, sir, and yet you claim victory. I'm not surprised, of course; for one thing you don't read newspapers or attend to anything that contradicts what you want to believe, and for another thing you claim victory as a matter of course regardless of all evidence to the contrary anyway. Thus, in the matter of Mr. DeLay and the matter of Social Security, you have simply imported your tactics from the run-up to the war in Iraq. No, not surprised, but I do find it amusing.
In any case, this week you have publicly taken two positions by means of speech that you have utterly failed to back up with any action. I know you like to take massive credit for your "moral clarity," and I suppose I should thank you for demonstrating in no uncertain terms what you actually mean by that phrase, to wit, living in a fantasy world. I guess when you're President you can call that "moral clarity" - out here in the real world, sir, we call it delusion.
National Public Radio played an audio clip of an elderly woman in Galveston who at last night's Round Table meeting said something like "If the country would listen to you, Mr. President, they would get it." Oh, we're listening all right, sir, and we get it.
It's been a busy week for you and your family, I see. First, your brother signed into law a Florida statute removing the requirement that citizens under attack try to flee before applying deadly force. It's a kind of "shoot first, ask questions later" approach that doesn't sit particularly well, but as it happens, the principle is within Jewish law at least. The sages of the past advised us, "If you know that someone is going to kill you tomorrow, get up early and kill him first." So never mind that the idea of killing someone, even a murderous someone, makes me uneasy; please contact your brother and congratulate him on his instinctive understanding of Jewish ethics. Whether this "stand your ground" attitude fits within your own professed Christianity I am far less certain. You claim Jesus Christ as your most important political advisor, so you might want to consult the Church's founder on the subject of turning the other cheek before you follow in your brother's footsteps.
As for your own activities, I note from a National Public Radio broadcast that you were in Galveston yesterday with none other than Tom DeLay, who must have found his presence at a "Round Table" discussion much more congenial than his past and future appearances before the House Ethics Committee. Well, everyone needs a break now and then, and in this case he got to take a break at an ostensibly wide-open event that was actually filled with thorougly vetted partisans of yours. I suppose he thought this would give him some decent publicity as a man willing to confront his opponents, while making it unnecessary for him to actually confront any opponent. In other words, like you, Mr. DeLay clearly enjoys saying one thing and doing something quite different.
This brings me to the main thrust of today's letter, Mr. President. When was the last time you said something in public that you actually believed?
Yesterday you told the Galveston audience that you consider Tom DeLay a very effective leader who gets things done. Brave words. They were and are totally unsupported by your actions, however - you have been distancing yourself from Mr. DeLay for weeks. This is probably good political strategy, since the man is going down very quickly (I'm sure you're aware that Congress took another major step today towards subjecting him to an Ethics Committee scouring), but it certainly doesn't match what you say about him.
Mind you, I am ecstatic that Tom DeLay is being roasted over a slow fire at long last, but I confess to a mild surprise that you would so publicly say something that your actions contradict so completely. You've always been so good at controlling your public image, but you've really left yourself wide open this time.
Even more astonishing to me is your claim that this tour of yours is convincing the nation that you know what you're talking about regarding Social Security. Your poll numbers have been plummeting ever since your last inauguration, sir, and yet you claim victory. I'm not surprised, of course; for one thing you don't read newspapers or attend to anything that contradicts what you want to believe, and for another thing you claim victory as a matter of course regardless of all evidence to the contrary anyway. Thus, in the matter of Mr. DeLay and the matter of Social Security, you have simply imported your tactics from the run-up to the war in Iraq. No, not surprised, but I do find it amusing.
In any case, this week you have publicly taken two positions by means of speech that you have utterly failed to back up with any action. I know you like to take massive credit for your "moral clarity," and I suppose I should thank you for demonstrating in no uncertain terms what you actually mean by that phrase, to wit, living in a fantasy world. I guess when you're President you can call that "moral clarity" - out here in the real world, sir, we call it delusion.
National Public Radio played an audio clip of an elderly woman in Galveston who at last night's Round Table meeting said something like "If the country would listen to you, Mr. President, they would get it." Oh, we're listening all right, sir, and we get it.
posted by benshlomo at 5:29 PM
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