President Bush’s Inaugural Address
Last week I had the unhappy experience of burying my father, a veteran of World War II. Sadly, when I first saw my dad’s casket covered by the American flag, I felt a confused mixture of emotions: On the one hand, my father had earned the flag (as I did mine in Vietnam), but on the other hand the flag has in recent months been made to symbolize an opportunistic and often empty patriotism for which neither my father nor I have anything but contempt.
During the presidential campaign, my dad and I had been able to laugh at Bush and Jim Baker’s ludicrous efforts to turn our national symbol into a partisan emblem; it was only standing in front of that casket that I realized what they had stolen from us just making that effort.
George Bush had better be one hell of a President because he now has a long way to go just to get back to zero with me.
JEFF ASHLEY
Glendora
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