Soccer Dad: Commander in chief

July 3, 2006

Commander in chief - military monday 6

President Bush's critics often accuse him of trivializing the sacrifices of the soldiers who fight for the United States. Whether it is Cindy Sheehan who uses her terrible loss as a credential to criticize the President or actor John Cusack whose recent movie criticized President Bush for not allowing cameras to record the return of the bodies of soldiers killed in the war to the United States.

Among the President's critics it's an article of faith that he cares little or not at all for the soldiers who are fighting his (illegitimate) battles for him. While I realize this story won't necessarily sway the President's critics but Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge jogged with the President.

I suppose that doesn't sound like much.

President Bush kept his promise to a wounded soldier yesterday, jogging around the White House running track alongside Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge, who ran with his new prosthetic running legs.

I suppose that Sgt. Bagge could have been bitter about his terrible fate. He could have blamed the man who sent him into war. But he didn't. He asked the President for a favor to give him the impetus to make the most of his life even after suffering an awful injury.

(An item with comments at Outside the Beltway.)

It's not the first time that the President has run with an injured soldier. In April 2004, he took a run with Staff Sargeant Michael MacNaughton, with a "bionic" leg.

(Snopes confirms the story as "true." The president made an offer and made good on his word.)

Sgt. McNaughton also accompanied the President to Cincinatti to throw out the first pitch of this baseball season. They were accompanied by

Paul Brondhaver, a recipient of the Bronze Star of Valor and Purple Heart after being injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and John Prazynski, whose son Taylor was killed in Afghanistan in May. Taylor was 20 years old and a graduate of Fairfield High School near Cincinnati.

A search on President Bush keeps promise to soldiers yields another worthwhile story

When he arrives today in Seattle, President Bush will take time to honor two local families who have sacrificed much.

Sheryl Sheaffer of Issaquah, whose three soldier sons, and only children, now serve in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, will fulfill a longtime wish by joining the greeting party for Bush when Air Force One lands at Boeing Field.

Brian and Shellie Starr of Snohomish, meanwhile, have been invited by the White House to share a lengthier, private session with the president here.

Their son, Marine Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr, was killed in Iraq on Memorial Day last year. A last letter Starr wrote to his fiancיe, intended to be found on his computer should he die, was shared by the family with the Seattle P-I and eventually came to Bush's attention. The president was visibly emotional as he quoted from it in a speech at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on Nov. 30.

I know that these are only a few soldiers, but it's impossible to read this stories and conclude that the president has strong and sincere feelings of gratitude for the young men and women who are defending the United States. His critics are wrong.

UPDATE: A response for John Cusack from the Patriette's husband.

Technorati tags: Military Monday, Humanitarian Aid.