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Mr. and Mrs.President

See How They Ran

In the aftermath of Tuesday's catastrophes, with 94% of those polled favouring military action, the American people have given the same message to their rookie President -- don't go wobbly on us.

Not since John F. Kennedy's tension-filled Cold War tenure has an American president faced such a serious foreign policy crisis so early in his administration.

In all probability, 8 1/2 months after his inauguration, George W. Bush has already experienced the defining moment of his presidency. The challenges for W. are formidable. He must navigate through a thicket of national security analyses and strategies to fashion a tactical response to the terrorists that is appropriate and effective.

He must retool the military to master the elusive shadowboxing involved when a nation tries to hunt down depraved individuals. He must help the nation balance security needs with civil liberties, essential freedoms with necessary constraints.

And he must lead a shocked, traumatized, terrified and outraged nation.

Truth be told, George W. Bush is no Jack Kennedy -- and no Ronald Reagan. In April, 1961, when John F. Kennedy presided over the botched Bay of Pigs invasion three months into his term, his charm and his rhetoric helped save the day. Kennedy took full responsibility for the debacle.

"There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan," JFK said, coining the phrase. "I'm the responsible officer of this government."

Government by epigram worked. Mr. Kennedy was hailed for his courage. His approval rating soared to 83%.

"Jesus, it's just like Ike," Kennedy exclaimed, sniping at his popular but passive predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower. "The worse you do, the better they like you."

Thirty-five years later, when the space shuttle Challenger blew up in mid-air, Ronald Reagan, then the president, met the challenge eloquently.

His speech in memory of the seven dead astronauts reassured the nation and used the traumatic tragedy to weave a tale of patriotic strength and redemption.

"Your loved ones were daring and brave and they had that special grace," Mr. Reagan told the families, and the nation, "that special spirit that says 'Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.' "

George W. Bush is not a natural orator. His speech on Tuesday night was not memorable. It was not epigrammatic like Mr. Kennedy's approach. It was not lyrical like Mr. Reagan's. George W. did not look that comfortable. He did not rise to the occasion. W. was squirrely, whereas Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City, was poised. W. was pedestrian, whereas the Congress spontaneously singing God Bless America was transcendent.

Still, the speech was adequate. It reassured the nation and the world that the American government was functioning. It eclipsed memories of Mr. Bush's hopscotch across the country in Air Force One that day looking for safe shelter.

It returned the President back to where he belonged, the White House. And it spoke to Americans, in the language of America.

Mr. Bush made clear -- as the events of the day had -- that the good guys were ready to go after the bad guys. For a sophisticated people, Americans have a weakness for simplistic politics. They wanted to know that their world was not upside down. Mr. Bush mentioned evil four times in his 584 word speech.

"None of us will ever forget this day," he said, "yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world."

Since Tuesday, Mr. Bush has begun to generate some images Americans need to see.

He visited the Pentagon on Wednesday. He visited some victims in the hospital yesterday. He may visit the World Trade Center site today. He has mobilized his wife to reinforce the message that there is a calm, compassionate, clear-thinking commander-in-chief at the helm.

Mr. Bush, like his father, is no wordsmith. But these encounters with real Americans in the field bring out his strengths as a politician. His aw-shucks, regular guy, 100% American persona could be just the kind of salve Americans need over the coming difficult weeks and months.

His America-first, either you're with-me or agin'-me, no- nonsense approach may turn out to be just the right response in the face of overwhelming evil.

Many Canadians are apt to dismiss all this speechifying and all this image-making.

But high-flying rhetoric is the language of American patriotism, of American nationalism.

And images are the lingua franca of the modern media-obsessed world. As the high priest of the American political universe, the modern president has to give the people what they want.

Of course, neither images nor words but deeds will determine Mr. Bush's true success -- and shape his legacy. Furthermore, this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Tuesday's carnage requires an effective and powerful response.

Mr. Bush needs to declare war on terrorism -- and win that war. He needs to stick to his claim that "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them."

He needs to make it a campaign against terror, not a photo-op against terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

He needs to remove this cancer of terrorism from the world, and enlist the aid of Canada, France, England and other key allies in the fight.

For too long too many nations have been "enablers." Too many nations turned a blind eye to the terrorists who frolicked and schemed in their midsts. Too many nations implicitly encouraged terrorists by accepting their rationales, and by legitimizing their concerns, rather than repudiating them fully and unambiguously. Too many nations continued business as usual with Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and other sponsors of terrorist organizations. Too many nations collaborated in the delusive transformation of Yasser Arafat, the father of modern terrorism, into a Nobel Peace Prize winner. All this must end.

George W. Bush is blessed with an experienced foreign policy team. Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, and Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, earned their stripes during the Gulf War. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, has been a fixture in Republican circles since the days of Richard Nixon.

However, George W. Bush needs to lead his advisors as well -- and not seem to be led by them. He needs to show Americans -- and the world -- that he is the boss and not a regent.

The American presidency is a peculiar institution. Great power and great majesty are concentrated in a single individual. A democratic people who fear centralized authority and rebelled against monarchy rely on one individual superhero to save them, especially during times of crisis.

From the start of the Constitution, the president of the United States has been expected to embody the nation and all its virtues. In the half-century since Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, the expectations of the office have grown and intensified.

President George W. Bush -- and the rest of the American nation - - have been mugged by history. Both the President and his people have been confronted with an unprecedented challenge.

The American people have said that they are ready to bear the burden, to pay the price, to find justice for the thousands killed senselessly by the 21st century's terroristic grim reapers.

Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, want their President to be resolute, to achieve results, to solve this most thorny of problems.

The presidency stopped being fun Tuesday morning. The true work of the George W. Bush presidency has now begun.