Bush, Hubris? How "Distinctly American..."

[neoblues]

Second paragraph of Bush's Address to the Nation tonight.

"Yet on that awful day, we also witnessed something distinctly American: ordinary citizens rising to the occasion, and responding with extraordinary acts of courage."

Seriously, I'm sure there were plenty of courageous, noble and heroic acts during and after the catastrophic events of 09/11/01. Still, somehow I just can't make the leap that the resonses were any more special just because they were by Americans. Methinks that the people of any country facing such terrible events would respond very much the same.

Sure, there were hundreds of phrases, concepts and claims in Bush's address that deserve to be attacked as being inane, insane, meaningless, obnoxious, false, revisionist, and any number of other negative descriptors... this was just one of the revolting phrases he started out with, and the first that struck me as obviously absurd. No doubt he was just playing the rold of "Healer in Chief" (as I heard Tweety (Tim Russert) call him just afterwards), trying to make people feel good about America and identify those courageous acts with himself--sleazy politician in chief. Alas, we're stuck with "Catastrophe in Chief" firmly entrenched in the Office of the President of the United States. If only...