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The Humility of George W.
Bush
Government/Frank
Salvato, Managing Editor |
April 8, 2005
- On Wednesday something very special happened at St.
Peter’s Basilica in Rome. For the first time in US history – for the first
time in all of history for that matter – a sitting president of the United
States led a delegation from the US to The Vatican to pay their last
respects to a great spiritual leader and honor the legacy of a visionary
whose calling lead him to the reverence and preservation of human dignity.
The US delegation, led by the president, included First Lady Laura Bush, the
president’s father President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the president’s chief of staff,
Andrew Card. The group entered St. Peter’s Basilica, paid their respects and
then departed. Out of consideration for the multitude of pilgrims from all
over the world, waiting in lines for more than twelve hours to pay their
respects to their Holy Father, the president and his delegation spent an
appropriate and dignified amount of time in their viewing of Pope John Paul
II.
Some will say that President Bush chose to attend this most solemn event to
show his respect for the position or perhaps to exemplify his overall
respect for religion. Others will say that he attended because of John Paul
II’s greatness. Still others more cynical will suggest that he did it to
curry favor with the Catholic voters or because it was a safe, media
friendly, politically motivated move. While the first three thoughts merit
consideration the last is simply revolting, although some will still say it
out of undisguised hatred for the president. Of course they would be hard
pressed to explain the political benefits to Clinton and Bush the elder.
It was appropriate that President Bush made the journey to pay his respects
in memoriam to Pope John Paul II. The Pope is a world leader. With over a
billion Catholics worldwide mourning the loss of their spiritual guide,
acknowledging his passing and his life is a reverent thing to do.
George W. Bush, whether acting as president, father, husband or friend, is a
man of compassion. It is impossible to believe otherwise if you pay
attention during remarkable events. When he introduced an Iraqi woman during
the State of the Union Address, her finger still stained purple, he
struggled to maintain his composure. When he spoke to workers digging for
non-existent survivors at ‘Ground Zero’ his frustration and conviction could
be felt. On the campaign trail he embraced a young girl who had lost her
mother on September 11th with such honest emotion that we could feel the
tender compassion of his embrace and sense a fierce paternal instinct for
protection. And in Rome, seated in St. Peter’s Basilica beside his wife
Laura, we witnessed the humility of perhaps the most powerful man in the
world as he paid tribute to the fragile mortal life of a great global and
spiritual leader.
Some will accuse George W. Bush of using the illusion of compassion to erect
a facade intended to deceive the gullible and the less informed. They will
question his motives and perhaps even condemn this journey to pay homage as
a political tactic. But those would be the same people who deal in
budget-busting, pork barrel spending, securing funding for ridiculous
projects like ground hog and rodeo museums, duplicate urban transportation
systems and tropical biospheres in the middle of the farm belt. They are the
same ones who ignore the benefits of the FAIR Tax while trying to "reform”
more money out of our wallets for Social Security. They are the proverbial
pots that call the kettle black. They constantly point the finger of scorn
at the president rather than accepting responsibility for their less than
compassionate legislation and spending because it is easier for the populace
to focus their ire on a single person rather than on a conglomerate of
spendthrifts content on misappropriating taxpayer monies. They will accuse
to divert attention and at this point in time, in light of the event that
the president is attending, we should ignore them completely.
History was made Wednesday, April 06, 2005 and I am proud of that fact. We
have elected a man to the office of president who has the conviction and the
resulting sense to recognize and hold in the highest esteem this Pope, so
devoted to the service of mankind through his devotion to and contemplation
of God and humanity.
President Bush went to St. Peter’s Basilica to pay his respects because he
has a soul and I am thankful for that. I bet Pope John Paul II, as he
ascends to the right hand of the Father, is thankful for that as well.
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