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By Gerald Posner. Mr. Posner is the author of
numerous books including "Case Closed: Lee
Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK."
What a difference
10 months makes. Last November I broke the unwritten
rule that requires journalists to be neutral
political observers when I got embroiled in the
controversy over the presidential election and
publicly supported Al Gore.
It was not just with friends that I passionately
argued the election had been stolen and that Mr.
Gore would be the better president. I was one of the
signatories to the pompously titled "Emergency
Committee of Concerned Citizens 2000," which
took full-page ads in the New York Times demanding a
revote in Palm Beach county. I wrote op-eds for
Salon.com and the New York Daily News. On television
talk shows from MSNBC to Fox News's popular
"The O'Reilly Factor," I made the case for
Mr. Gore. In thousands of e-mails, I urged voters to
deluge Clay Roberts, director of Florida's Division
of Elections, with appeals for a recount.
Of course, I did not know whether the election
had gone for Mr. Gore or George W. Bush. As a
partisan, I did not care. I was convinced that Mr.
Gore was by far the best-qualified candidate and the
man most fit to lead the U.S. Mr. Bush was not only
untested nationally, but he seemed to me bereft of
the character or intellect to become a real leader,
and I feared that four years, and possibly eight,
under Mr. Bush would set the country back.
How wrong I was. Since the murderous terror
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
President Bush has come alive in a way I did not
think possible. It was as though the attack on
America -- which he rightly called an "act of
war" from the start -- gave him a focus and
clarity I had not earlier seen.
If there was a single event that convinced me my
initial feelings were wrong, it was the president's
rather remarkable speech to the country and a joint
session of Congress last Thursday. Like Franklin
Roosevelt or Winston Churchill, he rallied a
country's spirit, had the courage to tell us the bad
news that the upcoming battle would be neither swift
nor easy, and declared that those who would destroy
our culture and values would not prevail.
I had always found Mr. Bush stiff in his scripted
speeches. But last Thursday he was infused with
passion and outrage. His sincerity was heartfelt,
and boosted almost all who listened to him. And
precisely because we all know he is not a masterful
orator, the power of his words and the forcefulness
of his delivery carried even more impact. He rose to
this most important occasion.
Sometimes historians wonder whether great leaders
are made by the crises they confront, or whether
they would be great leaders even in untroubled
times. More often than not, real leadership
flourishes when faced with imminent threats and
dangers. That is what America faces at the start of
the 21st century from a radical perversion of Islam.
And President Bush showed all of us who doubted him,
and voted against him, that he is indeed a leader.
There will be numerous tests for him in the long
battle ahead. But, as of now, he has converted many
of us to admirers, and he deserves our complete
support. The entire administration, from Colin
Powell to Donald Rumsfeld to Dick Cheney, inspires
more confidence as we embark on this uncertain war
than we likely would have had in any Gore
administration.
I must sadly admit that Bill Clinton, for whom I
voted twice, could not have delivered that same
clear speech last Thursday. His almost compulsive
need to please all sides would have prevented him
from casting the issues as starkly or as
unequivocally.
My late father used to tell me that one of the
hallmarks of good character is the courage to admit
mistakes. Most people who lock themselves into a
public position want to keep defending their
original stance, even when in their heart they know
subsequent events have proven them incorrect.
Well, I was vocal last year in stating my firm
belief that the wrong man was elected president. Now
I am compelled to admit I was mistaken. The best man
for this incredibly hard campaign is now president.
I suspect many of my fellow Democrats feel exactly
the same way.
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