The Crocuses Are Up
In her commentary, CBS News Senior Political Editor Dotty Lynch offers observations on the six-month anniversary of Sept. 11 from the close-at-hand in her backyard, to the transformation of George W. Bush from perceived campaign clown to commander-in-chief.
During one of those terrible weekends last fall, we planted hundreds of bulbs. An annual ritual but this year more of act of faith that, yes, spring would come, life would get back to normal and we'd stop hurting so much. Friday morning at dawn, we walked out in the almost warm March morning and the purple and yellow flowers had suddenly popped up.
We celebrated and then stopped. Overhead we heard the F-16s, which still hover over Washington during the night. And we realized that six months have gone by, that spring is almost here but that things are still not back to normal.
Republican pollster Bill McInturff coined a term, the "new normal" to describe public opinion following September 11 and found that people living on the two coasts were far more preoccupied with the terrorists attacks and their aftermath than were people in the rest of the country. But an analysis by the Pew Center's Andrew Kohut shows that throughout the country the attacks brought "unparalleled national unity and patriotism" and that "Washington, the federal government and even its political leadership have new relevance post 9-11." Kohut says it's not that people like government more it's that they believe they need government more.
The surveys also show that Americans "have become more committed to U.S. involvement in the world and to a multilateral approach to international affairs." Before the last election, a third of Americans believed that who became President didn't matter and before September 11, only 39 percent were optimistic about American's future. Ironically, after the worst attack on American soil the number of optimists jumped to 52 percent.
Americans are also much more supportive of defense spending - 60 percent believe military spending should be increased—the highest number on this since 1974. More (42 percent) believe that this money should come by deferring the tax cut than by cutting spending (22 percent.)
President Bush's approval rating remains sky-high and the public continues to give him strong high marks on his conduct of the war. The man who had a "stature gap" problem last summer and who was widely perceived not to be "in charge" is now seen by the public as someone able to "negotiate with world leaders" (73 percent, up from 45 percent, agree) and "someone whom those leaders respect" (67 percent, up from 37 percent, agree) according to a recent CBS News Poll.
The "new Bush," the strong leader who has been able to run a war, calm a nation shaken by terrorist attacks followed by anthrax scares and stay cool and in command is now so ingrained that two new works about the "old Bush" seem very out synch with reality. New York Times reporter Frank Bruni's "Ambling Through History" and Alexandra's Pelosi's cinema verite "Journeys with George" show Bush, the campaign jokester, the syntax-mangler and the anti-intellectual Texan. Both focus on the after hours Bush perhaps because the conventional wisdom in the pre-September 11 press corps was that the daytime Bush wasn't too interesting.
The Bush White House was very nervous about both of these profiles, worried that the image of the serious commander-in-chief would be damaged. However, to the contrary, both are being viewed through the post-September 11th lens and Bush now comes off as "comfortable" or "charming" or "natural."
The debate over whether Bush has changed or grown since September 11 or whether the media has just decided to embrace a new storyline won't be answered anytime soon. Bruni tries to grapple with this in the epilogue of his book since most of his anecdotes and insights don't prepare the reader for the leader who has emerged. He says that Bush's ability to separate himself from the problems of the day have kept him from being overwhelmed by them.
Bush, himself, may have provided the best answer about what time and events of history do to an image. In a candid session with NBC producer Pelosi, Bush is asked how the campaign has changed him. "I began a cowboy," Bush says, "now I'm a statesman."
Maybe it's just that simple. Over time history will give the proper weight to the pre and post September 11 profiles of the President. But six months after the attacks, that campaign clown who pigs out on cheetos and bologna looks very unfamiliar. As we continue to hear those F-16 over Washington, it's reassuring that along with all that silliness was a first class leader.
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A veteran of the Washington scene, CBS News Senior Political Editor Dotty Lynch provides an inside look at the issues and personalities shaping the political dialogue in the nation's capital and around the country.
By Dotty Lynch