by James Glaser
February 9, 2004

With his favorable poll numbers dropping, President George Bush decided it was time to start his 2004 reelection campaign a few months earlier than planned. George used Tim Russert's, Meet the Press as the kick off and taped a one hour segment at the White House to be shown in the show's Sunday morning time slot.

A live broadcast would have put Bush in a real hot seat and as Columnist Peggy Noonan observed, in a taped program, Bush could say, "let's take a break, I have something in my eye." Also any real boners could be cut out entirely.

Russert, who usually plays hard ball, threw up some under hand soft ball pitches for the President to take a swing at. There were no hard fast follow up questions, so there might have been some agreed ground rules that other guests don't get.

Russert told the President how the British were having an investigation on prewar intelligence of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction and that they would be done in July of this year. The President talked about how our investigation was not only about Iraq, but Iran, North Korea and others and it would take longer. It won't be done until well after the election.

When Russert asked if the President would testify before the Committee that he appointed, he said that he won't testify, but he would "visit" with the Committee. That "visit" is kind of what Condalezza Rice did this week with the Commission Bush put together to look into how we screwed up and let the 9/11 attack take place. Rice had her "visit" with the Commission, but wouldn't answer any questions under oath. Why?

Now that same 9/11 Commission it is reported by Newsweek, to be having a real hard time trying to get the White House to cooperate with their investigation. Bush doesn't want them to see the daily briefings he had before the attack. They want to see 360 of them dating back to 1998, many during the Clinton era, and Bush has only allowed them to see 24 so far.

Many Americans still want to know what Bush was informed of in August, 2001. After that morning briefing his staff no longer used commercial aircraft. What did George know and when? Russert never asked.

So even before this Meet the Press interview, George has been dancing with both questions and many say the truth. Here is an example;

Russert. "The Boston Globe and the Associated Press have gone through some of the records and said there's no evidence you reported to duty in Alabama during the summer or fall of 1972." (This question deals with the charge that Bush was AWOL during the Vietnam War, from his National Guard Unit.)

President Bush, "yeah, they're, they're just wrong... I got an honorable discharge"

Russert, "You were allowed to leave eight months before your term expired. Was there a reason?"

President Bush, "Right, well I was going to Harvard Business School and worked it out with the military."

To tell you the truth, George doesn't really dance all that well. Those answers are not going to satisfy many veterans whose father was not a Congressman or head of the CIA when they were in the service. Russert did get the President to say that he would release all his military records so we can know what the truth really is, and that is going to be interesting. How many service men and women do you think would like an eight month early out of their enlistment about now?

During the rest of the interview, George told America that we really were welcomed to Iraq by the Iraqi people. He didn't talk about numbers, but with over 530 killed and 3000 wounded, I would have to say we are not welcome by all the Iraqi people.

Bush still says that his recovery is working and he will cut the deficit in half next year, about the same time we get that report about the intelligence foul up. Also even with record deficits, Bush can see no reason we can't have more tax cuts. Sorry kids. Remember, we don't have to worry because jobs are up and things are looking good for America. I don't know if George was really talking to you and me when he was talking about the economy, but it sounded like times were good for some Americans

When reminded that he told America when he was running for office that he was against Nation Building, Bush, when asked if that is what we are doing in Iraq said, "Well it is."

I hope we get the report about George's military service before the election and I also hope that somebody tells him that Americans are getting killed and wounded every day in Iraq and some are still getting killed and wounded in Afghanistan.

I don't want a President that tries to dance around hard questions; I want a President that tells me the truth even when it hurts. I could respect and admire a leader like that even if we differed on how we thought America should be run.

A President that told the truth and was honest with the American people and the world would be refreshing, plus it would probably go a long ways in stopping terrorism. It seems to me that a honest President would be forced to do things that helped all of mankind, not a select few.