Bush's legacy from past administrations

Dawn Ritch, Contributor

MY heart goes out to the American people, and most of all their President, George W. Bush.

Readers know that I'm not a fan of America, because I think they've performed rather less well in their time than Britain as the masters of the world in theirs.

I believe that authority is indispensable, that it should be enlightened rather than faddish, and unobtrusive in the lives of those ruled. Silent and deadly if you will, or not wearing its emotions on its sleeves if you prefer.

The United States of America, as we know it, has existed for only half a century. They're a young and immature power. Authority is best exercised by experience.

Thus in the last U.S. Presidential race I quickly supported the Republican candidate "Dubya" because he had been bred to the task, and his mother loves him.

He is in stark contrast to Bill Clinton. Readers will remember I had plenty to say on that subject, as well as his choice for U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Mr. Gary Cooper.

Instantly therefore George W. Bush was my hope for the presidency of the U.S.A. Not another democrat given to endless television appearances and too much emoting, but a pair of strong, conservative hands.

"Dubya" himself made a very favourable impression on me, because he's brief and to the point. Everybody understands what he is saying, and so the world press, finding that he needs no interpretation, has decided he's a "Dumb-ass President".

Rise to the occasion

Within his first eight months in office Mr. Bush refused to ratify the Kyoto Agreement (a pile of expense to no good outcome), and unilaterally abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (a 30-year old antique).

His own and the world's press excoriated him. But I was glad, because the world had leadership at last. Mr. Bush has gotten himself a bum deal all around.

Clinton and his vacuous vice president Al Gore, the self-styled inventor of the Internet, left President Bush an Internet bubble about to burst, and a domestic housing bubble which may yet burst.

Now fanatics have devastated New York and Washington. Poor man. I expect that he will rise to the occasion, but it's a hell of a thing for a U.S. President to have to deal with during his first eight months in office.

An appalling legacy has been left to him by his predecessors. Upon this President's shoulders rests the last 50 years of American mis-administration, but I believe he is equal to the task.

Since the monumental tragedy last Tuesday in the U.S. British Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair has been talking endlessly to the television cameras, pledging the U.K.'s support and taking national precautions.

President Bush should take this support under advisement, because if Blair could really help he'd not spend so much time talking.

The fact of the matter is that Britain is not in the best pair of political hands, but I suspect that Mr. Bush is already well aware of that.

All of which leaves him very much a man on his own, but with the most able team of executives personally assembled by a U.S. President in modern times. Maybe he knew what he was getting into after all.

America is the place that sends the rest of the world food, clothing, and medicine when disaster strikes. There is not much we can send them except our heartfelt wishes for a speedy recovery.

When the fires stop burning in New York and Washington, and the dead have been counted and buried, Jamaica should offer a holiday to all their surviving firemen and women from those beleaguered cities. We need not worry about it, because they can't all come at one time.

Nerve to trouble

I, therefore, urge Tourism Minister Mrs. Portia Simpson Miller to begin urgent talks with Jamaican hoteliers of all sizes, because the privilege of having these firefighters in Jamaica must be spread around.

If these firemen can handle a holocaust like that, they can handle Jamaica, and after all that has happened in our island we are still the top-ranking tropical destination in the world, according to a recent international survey.

As to who could have had enough nerve to trouble America like that, I think 'nerve' is the operative word.

It comes of too much feeling produced by too much talking, too many broken treaties, and too many U.N. sanctions ordered but not imposed.

People are driven to madness without sound action. So the endless turmoil of the Mid-East crisis could have been the catalyst. Or it could have been domestic.

For the last two decades the American people have been told to get in touch with their emotions. They have been told that their emotions are honest. Of course they are, but honest feeling is not the same thing as truth.

Oprah Winfrey needs a break so that the American people can get back to reading the classics and sublimating their emotions.

All I ask is that if George W. Bush does a great job without shedding a public tear, he gets the recognition from his own people that he deserves.

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