"No matter How Long It Takes..."

Anyone who reads this blog knows I'm not a fan of former President, George Bush.  Nevertheless, one should consider exactly what he was thrown into ten years ago today.  I've actually heard people criticize his reaction upon being notifying of the attack on the World Trade Center--political hyperbole at its best--or worst.   Look again when you see that clip today and
put yourself in his shoes.  Maybe in that moment he considered the fact that he was sitting before a group of young children.  I've never been one to take part in such extreme rhetoric on either side--or at least it's been many years since I have--and I've never seen anything wrong with Mr. Bush's reaction at that moment.   I see a guy trying to suppress a look of grave concern. I also see the wheels turning and maybe a well-warranted hint of anger.  What would you have had him do?  Jump up and run out of the room abruptly?  Or jump up and grab the Secret Service guy who delivered the shocking news by the lapels, shake him back and fourth violently and yell, panic-stricken, "What?! Say it isn't so, man!! What ever shall we do??!!"  If it were Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, what do you think they would have or should have done, exactly?  It's safe to guess that their reaction would have been very similar.  I understand that "politics is a contact sport," etc., etc., but criticism of Bush's reaction at such a unique and jarring moment is exactly the kind of extreme* politically-motivated distortion of reality that turns my stomach.

When 9/11 mastermind, Osama Bin Laden wad killed by a U.S. Task Force in May, of all the reactions by major public figures, I thought the closing words of Mr. Bush's statement were the most appropriate by far:

No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.

I like that. 

*I wanted to use the word, "petty" here, but I didn't want to offend anyone. 


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