| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"reeder" |
| Date: |
19 Oct 2005 09:19:44 AM |
| Object: |
When Bush speaks in code |
San Francisco Chronicle
October 19, 2005
When Bush speaks in code
WHEN President Bush says of White House counsel Harriet Miers, "I know
her heart," those words may not be of much guidance to most Americans
trying to assess her fitness to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
But Bush has long had a way of speaking in code to what appears to be
the main target of this and many other public comments that seem
insufficient or even mystifying to others. Bush has mastered the art
of effectively signaling to religious conservatives, his bedrock base
of supporters, "Trust me. I'm one of you."
By some accounts, the origins of Bush's practice of using code to
reach out to Christian fundamentalists were his consultations with
family adviser Doug Wead, who had unsuccessfully tried to persuade
then-Vice President George H.W. Bush to sprinkle more references to
God in his speeches and to schedule high-profile meetings with leading
evangelicals in the 1988 presidential campaign. The elder Bush, an
Episcopalian, was said to be uneasy about wearing his religion on his
sleeve.
George W. Bush had no such reticence about outreach to Christian
conservatives. As a candidate for governor of Texas, his speeches were
laced with declarations of his relationship with Jesus Christ. Meeting
with Christian supporters on the first day of his second term, Bush
reportedly said, "I believe that God wants me to be president."
Most of his religious allusions are far more nuanced -- and his
frequent biblical references, refrains from hymns and use of familiar
"comfort words" to Christians may slip by most people in an audience.
For example, an analysis of Bush's 2004 acceptance speech by a
University of Chicago professor of the history of religions showed the
extent to which his phrases about "hills to climb" and "the valley
below" were aligned with biblical stories. As Professor Bruce Lincoln
observed, the president who spoke of freedom as "the Almighty's gift
to every man and woman" was casting his presidency "not just as a
struggle for freedom, but a religious mission with risks of
martyrdom."
In his second debate with John Kerry, Bush made what seemed at the
moment, to many Americans, to be an out-of-nowhere reference to the
1857 Dred Scott decision. But the reference was anything but obscure
to religious conservatives who have long viewed the 7-2 high court
ruling in the Scott case -- which upheld the "right" of slave owners
over blacks -- as analogous to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling on
abortion.
As a court nominee, Miers has remained mum about her views on Roe vs.
Wade, though, in a 1989 questionnaire for Dallas City Council
candidates, she did pledge her support for a constitutional amendment
to outlaw abortion in most cases.
Bush is hardly the first president to talk openly of his faith or to
invoke refrains from hymns or the Bible. But the deftness and
frequency with which he speaks of the "culture of life'' or other
words with meaning to Christian conservatives and other foes of
abortion have proved remarkably effective -- at least until now.
It was not surprising at all that Bush might think he could reassure
skeptics on the right by simply saying he knew what was in Miers'
heart, a phrase that had the ring of code. This time, however, many
are demanding to know much more about her views on Roe and other
constitutional issues. So should all Americans.
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