W. Stands for War
BARNES, FRED
W Stands for War A new beginning for the Bush presidency. BY FRED BARNES PRESIDENT BUSH did not become a war president on the day of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. it happened...
...The crowd burst into a chant of "USA, USA, USA...
...From that moment, Bush was palpably in command...
...He sat stonily...
...My guess is Bush will stand firm...
...Whether Bush will satisfy requirement three of a war president—having a strategy and the will to carry it to a successful end—is unknowable...
...The first requirement of a war president is to assure the nation he's in charge...
...responsibility to history: to answer these attacks...
...Yes, it would be nice if Bush's speeches stirred the nation...
...Bush hadn't risen to the occasion...
...Now is an opportunity to do generations a favor by coming together and whipping terrorism, hunting it down, finding it and holding [terrorists] accountable...
...Wolfowitz said the Bush policy is to "end" states that aid terrorism...
...The feedback from Republicans on Capitol Hill, outside advisers, and even some White House aides was less than positive...
...Neither did his father on day one of Desert Storm...
...As reporters were led out of the room, Bush was asked if he would seek a declaration of war...
...But it could have been worse...
...Once the build-up in the gulf commenced, Bush senior grabbed control...
...For Bush the son, it took about the same amount of time...
...This time he spoke crisply and forcefully...
...But he's no Winston Churchill and never will be...
...The other is crafting a strategy that's likely to work, plus the will to carry it out...
...That's a tall order...
...He looked harried and unsure...
...America has "a Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...The media had been summoned to the Oval Office to observe a staged phone conversation between Bush and New York governor George Pataki and New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani...
...Now, Bush the son is hard pressed to assert full control...
...And at that moment Bush's transformation into a war president, capable of inspiring without being eloquent, was complete...
...Security officials wanted him to spend the night outside Washington...
...Often Bush is tongue-tied and struggles for words...
...At 10:53 a.m...
...The day before, the Capitol had had to be evacuated briefly and the vice president had been shipped to Camp David to make sure a terrorist couldn't take out both Bush and Cheney in a single attack...
...The phone chat fell flat, but Bush's response to press questions afterwards didn't...
...That night from the Oval Office, his speech was marginally better...
...Buttressing the talk were real actions: a call-up of military reserves, coalition building on a world scale, and $40 billion in new military spending, just for starters...
...There are two others...
...Acts of war had been committed, he said...
...George W. Bush stumbled on day one in establishing himself as a man in charge, comfortable as commander in chief...
...The president looked stiff, gesticulated in a wooden manner, and failed to create the impression he's up to the task ahead...
...A day later—Friday, three days after the attacks—Bush addressed a prayer service, now more confident in his role as a war president...
...His comments to the press the next day brought him further...
...the president, looking somber, leaned forward to read a statement...
...After stopping at two air force bases and dropping off a taped statement to the nation, Bush insisted on returning to the White House, despite the risk...
...When someone yelled, "I can't hear you," Bush instantly shouted back, "I can hear you and the rest of the world can hear you, and all the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon...
...What's not required of Bush is that he become a rhetorical president...
...Suspected terrorists remained at large in this country...
...As for Carter, he was never in control in the Iranian hostage case...
...The question is whether Bush will stay the course when, say, bombs aimed at terrorists kill women and children, or Saddam Hussein must be confronted forcibly, or complaints mount about "profiling" of Arab Americans, or allies drop by the wayside...
...So it was Saddam who controlled events early on, but he balked at invading Saudi Arabia...
...But Bush and his advisers, notably Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, have created the strong impression they actually do intend to extinguish terrorism aimed at America...
...Eradicating terrorism "is now the focus of my administration," he said...
...Requirement two—bringing events under control—was a critical problem for Bush senior and is for George W. The fear in 1990 was Saddam Hussein would attack Saudi Arabia and its oilfields before enough American troops and planes were deployed to stop him...
...Wiping out terrorism is a noble cause, a crusade, if successful, that transforms a run-of-the-mill presidency into one of historic importance...
...it happened the next morning...
...Being in charge, of course, isn't the only test of an effective war president...
...It is not business as usual...
...It wasn't until four days after Iraq had seized Kuwait that Bush settled on a firm position and declared the Iraqi invasion "will not stand...
...Cutting taxes and trying to reform education are worthy goals...
...It's a purpose for his presidency...
...Others have echoed it...
...One is bringing events under control and restoring stability and a reasonable amount of calm...
...Bush, in Desert Storm...
...Bush's taped message was weak...
...As a war president, he has something he didn't have before...
...The model for meeting all three requirements is Bush's father, President George H.W...
...The negative model is President Jimmy Carter in the Iranian hostage crisis...
...Bush didn't answer, flinch, or look up...
...And Bush's three-minute soliloquy put him on the way to meeting it...
...The United States of America will use all our resources to conquer this enemy...
...He fell short on all three counts...
...Three days after the strikes on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, he proclaimed a national emergency "by reason of certain terrorist attacks...
...It worked...
...Bush senior initially put out a wishy-washy statement, then told reporters he wasn't considering the use of military force (even though he was...
...The worst fear at the White House was of another terrorist assault, which would raise doubts about Bush's (or anybody's) ability to bring terrorism under control, ever...
...Bush was sitting in the Cabinet Room at the White House between Vice President Dick Cheney and secretary of state Colin Powell...
...His choice of microphone as he spoke Friday afternoon beside the debris of the World Trade Center was a bullhorn...
...But Bush had one (and only one) strong line in his Oval Office address: that groups or states harboring terrorists would be held responsible...
Vol. 7 • September 2001 • No. 2
