I've been hearing a reprise of that nonsensical trope that George W. Bush was at his finest on 9/11, leading us through the darkness of those early hours with strength and purpose.
First, consider this first statement after the towers were hit, a statement which he claimed to the 9/11 commission were written entirely by him. (You can see the video of it here.)
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for America.
I, unfortunately, will be going back to Washington after my remarks. Secretary Rod Paige and [the] Lt. Governor will take the podium and discuss education. I do want to thank the folks here at -- at Booker Elementary School for their hospitality.
Today, we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.
I have spoken to the Vice President, to the Governor of New York, to the Director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and -- and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act.
Terrorism against our nation will not stand.
And now if you [would] join me in a moment of silence.
May God bless the victims, their families, and America.
Thank you very much.
It was widely panned, for obvious reasons. Thanking the elementary school for its hospitality and calling the perpetrators "folks" seemed more than a little bit off key. Saying he "unfortunately" had to go back to Washington, under these circumstances, wasn't inspiring (particularly since they subsequently flew all over the country, further panicking the nation.) It was later thrown about that he'd said on the plane that he wasn't going to let some tinhorn terrorist keep him away from Washington, but nobody believed it.
Ok, he's human. But then the plane landed briefly at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana where he made a speech in which he appeared a little bit more in control. However the 9/11 commission, which wasn't allowed to interview the president without Dick Cheney present, pretty much concluded that Cheney forcefully took control of the government during this period.
It was only later that we saw the truly damning video. I think Michael Moore did the best job with it:
The press spent the next four years fetishizing Bush's allegedly brilliant leadership on that day. Many people would insist that it was necessary in order to bring the country together in the aftermath of the attacks. But it wasn't true and the dissonance and up-is-downism that was introduced in those early days brought us to the place we are today.
Strangely, Bush's most impressive real achievement in that period was in tamping down the domestic backlash against Muslims. Too bad that was the one piece of his legacy that didn't outlive his presidency.