I understand from the national media that I was the only Congressional candidate in 2006 that proudly included President George W. Bush in their political ads. If so, then I am also proud to add this additional tribute and expression of appreciation.
I am grateful to President Bush for possessing and demonstrating the character and personal morality that we should always expect from the President of the United States of America. I thank him for his strong religious faith and devotion to his wife Laura and their family while humbly and tirelessly serving our country in the face of immense challenges and unrelenting criticism and personal attacks.
In August 2006, President Bush came to Utah to speak to the national convention of the American Legion. He also spoke at a Republican luncheon later that day. I was honored to meet and speak with him then. He displayed great warmth, sincerity, humility, humor and yes, spirituality. At one point, I said to him, “Mr. President, you said something immediately after 9/11 that touched me deeply. I have never forgotten it. You said, ‘The commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time.’” He thanked me and we discussed the continuing threat of terrorism and our nation’s resolve to meet that challenge. I reflected further on our meeting a few weeks later when I heard the President repeat that expression for the first time since 9/11 in a national broadcast.
I also recall how inspiring it was to welcome the President when he landed at the Salt Lake City Airport on Air Force One. Over 5000 Utah citizens were assembled to welcome him. I hearkened back to the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Olympics. What a moment it was when the tattered American Flag from “Ground Zero” was reverently brought into the stadium by our military. I remembered, too, how genuinely pleased President Bush was to sit in the stands with the U.S. athletes. One young athlete sitting next to him called home on her cell phone so her parents could share in the experience and also talk to their President.
As Air Force One landed at the Salt Lake City Airport, an announcer called out, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States of America”. A light from the plane shone on the official seal of the Presidency for all to see. The plane taxied up to the waiting crowd and President Bush received a jubilant Utah welcome – unlike the negative barrage he experiences back in the nation’s capital where he is routinely criticized and slandered by career politicians with opposing agendas.
President Bush enthusiastically walked up and down the “rope line” shaking hands and beaming in the midst of so warm a welcome. When he prepared to leave, Representative Kerry Gibson with whom I served in the State Legislature called out, “God bless you, Mr. President”. President Bush turned and replied with noticeable emotion, “Thank you. That means so much to me. If you only knew how much God has already blessed me. Thank you and God bless America”.
I was also privileged to be elected a delegate to the National Republican Convention in New York City where President Bush was re-nominated for a second term in 2004. The Utah delegation was seated not far from the podium where the President accepted the nomination and spoke to the country on national television. In self-deprecating humor, he admitted that sometimes he struggles with syntax, pronunciation and public expressions that some grammarians would call “malapropisms”. He said, “I knew I had a problem when Arnold started correcting me” (referring to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger). He also said, “Some people think I ‘swagger’. In Texas, we call that walking.”
A highlight of the Republican Convention in 2004 was the speech given by Zell Miller, former Democrat U.S. Senator and Georgia Governor. He broke ranks with his party and sang the praises of President Bush as a man of principle and strong moral character – something America should expect from its Presidents and surely needs after the Clinton administration. Senator Miller’s sincere tribute to President Bush included the following:
“George Bush is Commander in Chief who understands the real lessons of history. Who understands the price of freedom. Who understands that leaders have to choose between good and evil, tyranny and freedom. And the choice they make will reverberate for generations to come.
President Bush sees the world as it really is, with terrorists who are determined but allies who are timid…
I have been in elected office under nine presidents. I have met them all and three I’ve known very well. George W. Bush is in a class of his own.
I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together, and I admire and respect this man as I do no other. I am moved by the reverence he shows the first lady and the unabashed love he has for his parents and his daughters.
I identify with this man of faith who has lived that line in “amazing grace”, “was blind, but now I see.” I like the fact that he’s the same man on Saturday night as he is on Sunday morning.
I have knocked on the door of this man’s soul and found someone home. Someone who can feel the anxiety of an unemployed father in Akron or the suffering of an Aids victim in faraway Africa.
Someone who is a God fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel. A man I would trust with my most precious possession: my family”.
And so I say, THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. We don’t see every issue exactly the same (No Child Left Behind and Illegal Immigration, for example). But for quickly and powerfully responding to 9/11, leading our military as they so courageously removed Saddam Hussein from power and liberated the people of Iraq, for tax cuts that continue to lift our economy (and further validate the legacy of Ronald Reagan) and much more – and especially for upholding the moral character we have a right to expect from the President of the United States and a nation that long ago adopted as our motto, “In God We Trust”, THANK YOU!
In the coming election, I hope our next President can again bring such strong individual character to office.
Posted by: LaVar Christensen