I am currently reading Bush at War, which is far from a great book, but which clearly discusses some great events. This morning on the subway, I read the portion describing Bush's first visit to Ground Zero. Woodward reports that as Bush walked through the crowd, there were intensly personal outpourings of emotion, like when a worker pointed at the President and said, "Don't let me down." The President then climbed up on a firetruck with a bullhorn to speak to the crowd, without any prepared remarks, or even a proper platform or PA system. After several false starts, with the crowd shouting out that the bullhorn wasn't loud enough for them to hear the him, the President paused, and shouted back "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear from all of us soon." I really did start to tear up on the subway.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 11:27 AM