Bush Visited The Troops...A Lot (1st In A Possible Series Of Things I'll Miss About George W. Bush)

We've all seen the stories about George Bush (along with Laura Bush and Dick Cheney) visiting wounded troops and spending time with the families of the fallen. In fact, he's spending part of today at Walter Reed.

Well, it turned out he did a lot more than we knew.

Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching - balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin - that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support.

"I lean on the Almighty and Laura," Mr. Bush said in the interview. "She has been very reassuring, very calming."

...Mr. Cheney similarly has hosted numerous events, even sneaked away from the White House or his Naval Observatory home to meet troops at hospitals or elsewhere without a hint to the news media.

For instance, Mr. Cheney flew to North Carolina late last month and met with 500 special-operations soldiers for three hours on a Saturday night at a golf resort. The event was so secretive that the local newspaper didn't even learn about it until three days after it happened.

Mr. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, also have hosted more than a half-dozen barbecues at their Naval Observatory home for wounded troops recovering at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed and their spouses and children.

It's a long story but well worth the read.

Quite frankly, I have very little faith in Obama's ability to connect with the troops the way Bush seems to have. It's fine to say you support the troops and appreciate their service but I don't see how you can really connect with them if you don't support their mission and value their victories. More importantly, how can you really lead them under those circumstances?

I honestly hope that as he assumes the awesome responsibility of leading these brave men and women, Obama finds a new appreciation for what they have accomplished in the last 8 years.

Back to Bush, I haven't seen anything about his post presidential plans but I'll bet that whatever he does it will involve raising a lot of money for veterans and military causes.

For all of my problems with his policies over the years, I have no doubt that we conservatives are going to miss him greatly. My guess is so will many who have served under him through many trying years of battle.

posted by DrewM. at 03:00 PM

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