President Bush is now the first President to make an arrested landing on an aircraft carrier as he flew in to the USS Abraham Lincoln to visit troops returning from the Persian Gulf.
The president — a former F-102 Texas Air National Guard fighter pilot — wanted to swoop onto the deck of the Lincoln aboard an F-18 Hornet, but the Secret Service nixed the idea.
Agents didn’t like leaving the president unguarded in a fighter jet that only has space for the president and a pilot.
Well, unless the President is using the aircraft to fight off evil aliens anyway…
While this was largely a piece of orchestrated political theater (and a good one at that!) what was not orchestrated was the way in which the crew of that ship treated the President. It’s clear that our military has a strong bond with their Commander in Chief, and he trusts in them. One thing is certain, while the Democrats will likely try to make political hay out of this and accuse the President of grandstanding, this will be a moment that the crew of the Lincoln won’t soon forget – and it’s a good way of congratulating them on a job well done.
September 11 was the beginning of a three-year infomercial for Bush 2004. This was just the latest shameless example of that, but I feel the public will eventually find it just as unfavorably as they did Minnesota DFLers turning Wellstone’s funeral into an informercial. Even moronic Americans will eventually find it inappropriate for Bush to exploit 9-11 and Iraq for political gain, and the more he sticks his face in the camera to remind us of that, the less effective it will be.
In some ways I agree (gasp!) – if Bush overdoes this it will ring hollow. Still, I’ll give him this one. (Mainly because it looked fun as hell, and the crew seemed to love having him there.)
Glenn Reynolds was critical of this because he thought it was too “third world.”
I think it was an appropriate celebration of a job well done.
More…
http://www.punditree.blogspot.com/2003_04_27_punditree_archive.html#93655200
Sen Dead Duck Bird just convinced me as an Independeant not to vote for any of his unamerican
Democratic Party.
I place him in the Kennedt mode.
They both stink.