An open letter to President Bush

Iam sometimes very proud to be an American. Usually, these feelings surface when I think of the profound sacrifice of the many heroes—the policemen, firefighters, and rescue workers—surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks.

I am sometimes very embarrassed to be an American. Usually, these feelings surface when I see you.

I'm sure you're legitimately saddened by what happened to our nation on Sept. 11. But let's be realistic for a moment. This whole "War on Terrorism" business has really saved your political butt.

They've stopped making fun of you. Have you noticed? They say you've "grown into the job," that you've become the leader that most of us had never imagined you were capable of becoming.

You may have gotten better at reading a teleprompter, but you're still inarticulate. The media has dropped to its knees for you, poring over your idiotic drivel as if it were coherent and worthwhile dialogue.

I don't think I'm flirting with hyperbole in saying that your lexicon is a threat to national security. No better way to get the will of the world on your side than to use the same language as the extremist terrorists, right? We're on a "crusade," you said. We're fighting against "evildoers." And here's the clincher: Osama bin Laden is now "The Evil One." The Evil One? Um, you mean, like, Satan? Bin Laden is Satan. Hell, let's call him the Great Satan while we're at it.

If you're not spewing simplistic, extremist rhetoric, you're using language that equates people with animals and makes you sound more like a trigger-happy buffoon than a Commander-in-Chief. How else to characterize your description of the perpetrators as "folks," your speech about "smoking the terrorists out of their holes," and of calling for the capture of bin Laden "dead or alive"?

Are these the words and phrases that a nation in grief needs to hear? Is this the message that we wish to project to the rest of the world? You might like to think of yourself as a self-styled cowboy, but this ain't no John Wayne movie. And you, sir, are no John Wayne.

The problem is, you were never very good at distinguishing between justice and violent retribution. It's for this reason that Texas execution chambers were kept so busy during your tenure as governor. And now, you are using language that obscures the severity of violence and romanticizes retribution. That is the last thing our violence-scarred nation needs.

Oh, and cut the crap about the need for Americans to "just get on with their lives." I can't just get on with my life. In case you haven't noticed, we've launched a war, and someone's sending out anthrax like Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes. America changed forever on Sept. 11, and we're not all going to just go about our lives like nothing happened. In theory at least, this country is a participatory democracy. A better leader than you, "a true democrat," would be encouraging national soul-searching and a public discourse on an issue that will affect the rest of our lives.

Maybe you think a complacent public will not notice your lack of leadership skills or your complete inability to grasp the profundity of your charge as the leader of the most powerful nation on the face of the earth in this time of national crisis.

Sure, your artificial status as a capable leader is hammered into our brains by the Unholy Trinity of McNews—CNN, MSNBC, and the Fox News Channel. But we're not all convinced. Some of us realize that you're the same figure that you were on Sept. 10.

History sometimes plagues us with bad timing. At this point in our history, America needs a leader with a true vision—a leader who respects our national ideals and can articulate them on the world stage in a complex and powerful way. Unfortunately for America and for the world, you are not that leader.

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