The Liberal Patriot

Where Is Laura Bush?

Mary MacElveen - August 16, 2004

With President Bush’s approval ratings in the dumpster the polling numbers reflect his ineffectiveness to lead this country in the right direction. You would think he would do something to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of Americans to gain back their trust. But this corrupt Polly Anna president of ours goes on day to day as if nothing is wrong.

There is something very wrong when this president when a mom of a fallen soldier camps outside his Crawford home pleading to meet with him. She just wants to ask “why her son?” [ed. what is the moral purpose my son died for] Instead of meeting with her, he traveled to Illinois this past week to sign the $286.4 billion highway bill where he stated, "This bill upgrades our transportation infrastructure and it'll help save lives," I sure wish he was thinking along the lines of wanting to save lives when it came to Cindy Sheehan’s son Casey and the other soldiers who have lost their lives in this immoral war.

You would think that this master manipulator of the media would think of way to show the media that he does care about not only Cindy Sheehan but the rest of the moms whose sons and daughters are no longer with them. But our fearless (?) president runs from this grieving mom. According to Newsday article which ran today, “The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq got a drive-by - twice - but still no sit-down from President George W. Bush Friday when he left his Texas ranch and passed Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest.” President Bush was on his way to a $2-million Republican fundraiser where he passed without slowing down. This proves one again that money is what drives this president, a grieving mom be damned. Casey’s life was not worth $2-million dollars, it was priceless.

Moms are the back bone of this country and while we do have our differences, where we are for the most part the same is when it comes to the protecting our children. We are their voice as we celebrate their accomplishments including their first steps in life. We are their guides to make moral choices throughout their life and in many cases we are their disciplinarians.

We are often their voice if for some tragic reason their life is cut short and they predecease us. Moms grieve when their child dies before them. It is hard to comprehend when your child dies before you. I speak from experience when I lost twin sons just after they were born. Besides Cindy Sheehan I will give you a clear example of another courageous mom who became her daughter’s voice. Her name is, Maureen Kanka. Mrs. Kanka became the driving force when she doggedly went after politicians to do something about child sex offenders when her daughter Megan was killed by one. Two years after her daughter’s death in 1996 President Clinton signed the federal law to deal with these sexual predators. The federal law followed on the heels of a New Jersey law which would isolate these sex offenders, to help protect our children. This law or similar versions of it are now in force in most states. This law is called Megan's Law. At least the politicians back then were listening to a mother’s plea and more importantly did something to help a grieving mom. These elected officials actually met with Mrs. Kanka and more importantly listened to her. What they did was act upon her grievances that our children were not being protected from these monsters and where the end result was they did something about it.

As it stands there is another mom who is just up the road from where Cindy Sheehan is camped out and her name is Laura Bush, our First Lady. Mrs. Bush is blessed to have her twin daughters Barbara and Jenna still with her. You would think out of compassion and to show America that this administration does care, she would walk down that road to meet with Ms. Sheehan. You would think President Bush would at least send his wife down that road to rehabilitate his image to the American people. Since, it was his actions that caused Cindy Sheehan to lose her son Casey in this heinous war. But, that has not happened.

A mom emailed me this thought where she too asked where Laura Bush was, she wrote; “Who among us has not experienced a dark foreboding -- perhaps the first time our newly licensed driver ventures out at night, or gains permission to attend a party, even if we suspect it’s with the ‘wrong’ crowd, or is two hours late getting home and doesn’t check in to let us know that they are safe? For Cindy, the unthinkable has become reality. Every morning she opens her eyes, I imagine that her heart feels like a lead weight because the first thought that crashes into her consciousness is that her precious child is gone.”

This mom has something in common with Laura Bush since she too is raising twin daughters, but with one big difference, hers are autistic. She then went on to say, “Unlike Laura Bush, I have not experienced the joys of seeing my daughters go out on their first date, graduate from college, tie up the telephone for hours on end and take their first steps into adulthood. Parents of disabled children are a resilient bunch -- early on, we accept what ‘is’, but a part of us never stops wondering ‘what could have been’. I am sure that Cindy often wonders of what could have been after her son was murdered. This mom would love nothing more than to travel to where Cindy Sheehan is and put her arms around her and give her a hug. I am left to wonder why can’t Laura Bush knowing just how lucky she is walk down that road and give Cindy a hug? At the very least it would show Cindy that someone within this government cares.

You would think that the manipulator of the media President Bush would ask the mother of their two daughters to meet with this grieving mom. Perhaps, Laura Bush would see it as just that, which is manipulating the media, but she should still do it for every single mom out here who stands shoulder to shoulder with Cindy Sheehan.

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