If David is right, then the blame rests on President Bush. Presidents ultimately do get what they want, and this president values comfort and control. He is no recluse–he mingles well with ordinary Americans–but hostile foreign crowds are not part of his job description. One can imagine what Theodore Roosevelt would have made of such a situation. Even tortured Richard Nixon showed up at the Lincoln Memorial in the dawn’s early light.
We must take the bitter with the sweet.