George W. Bush

I've been listening to the President's press conference before his departure to Crawford, Texas.

I don't doubt that this will have some (many? all?) of you howling. But I gotta say, George Bush is a good man. I don't agree with him on everything (Ai! Those deficits!), but I trust him implicitly. He is sure of himself, and self-confident, and, I believe, fundamentally decent. There was no dissembling. There were only honest, stright-up replies. It was almost conversational. If I was sitting talking to him, posing questions, and he replied the way he did in front of the White House Press Corps, I would have been satisfied.

I loved his answer about homosexuality. "I believe we're all sinners," and went on to caution against "throwing the first stone." And that our country should "look well on anyone who has a good heart." To be sure, then he said that marriage in his view is between a man and a woman and that this should be preserved and codified, but I don't know that I disagree with him there. After thinking long and hard about the matter, I have come to conclude that a relationship between a man and a woman is in essence a different thing than a same sex relationship, and that's not a bad thing. Legal parity of those relationships? I think that's on the way. But the whole Right to Marry effort seems to me symbolic, and could suck the life out of the more worthwhile and painstaking efforts to achieve parity for same sex tax-paying households.

Oh. And a note. His $3,000 Re-employment fund? I'm lovin' that. That just says 'Welding School' all over it to me. I think that's brilliant, helping people adjust to the inevitable dislocations from the transition to a global economy.

Suffice it to say that I like the man. I trust him. I think the country is in good hands under his stewardship.

Howl away!

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