Who’s driving us apart?
Re “Bush Fails to Recapture the Nation’s Post-9/11 Unity,” column, Sept. 17
Ronald Brownstein would like to blame President Bush for the loss of unity in this country following 9/11. This has been a complaint for years. Surprisingly, there are people in our country who despise Bush more than Saddam Hussein, and the Bush administration more than the jihadists. The lack of unity is a result of those who won’t discuss how -- but whether -- to fight a serious war against serious terrorists.
BARRY JOHNSON
Chico, Calif.
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Brownstein got it right. The president’s highly partisan decisions and spin over the last five years have had the cumulative effect of locking out millions of ordinary Americans from feeling any chance to support our national war policy.
It’s up to the president what he chooses to tell the American people in national addresses or on the stump, but the consequences of his words fall directly at his feet. Basing decisions about war and peace on fabricated intelligence, lies and partisan politics in which the administration uses war to bash opponents is no way to pull a country together. As World War II and the Cold War showed, we are a strong and determined people capable of persevering in the face of tragedy and pain.
The difference now, as Brownstein correctly states, is that our leaders are not pulling our people together but driving the wedge deeper.
BILL ORTON
Long Beach
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