Heckling The President

I had the opportunity to hear George Bush Sr. today at a speaker series here in Los Angeles. The former president focused about his upbringing and the influence his family had on him while he was growing up, especially his mother. He also talked about how the value system he inherited from his family helped him become a better person and a better leader.

When he started answering questions, someone from the crowd stood up and shouted" Why didn't you teach these values to your son". He listened to it peacefully and then got up saying " Where is my cane?"...awesome....absolutely awesome response. For someone at his age who just had dehydration in this Los Angeles heat yesterday,to have come and delivered a speech for an hour and then get heckled is unfair. Irrespective of what your allegiances are ( and I must say that I am not a huge fan of the current president), it still doesn't warrant a hit job. And when you do a hit job on an old man like this guy, don't you lose the right to feel bad about what Chris Wallace did to Clinton on Fox News Sunday?

There was more shouting but overall the former president displayed fine composure. The second aspect which one needs to remember is that George Bush Sr. was a much better president when it came to foreign policy. His foreign policy, contrary to the current administration's policies, was very much grounded in reality. He went into Iraq by first legitimizing the fight in the Arab world and then getting France on board. No wonder, even after Saddam shot Scuds into Israel, none of the Arab countries decided to quit the coalition. Today, he also talked about how he decided to avoid public show of glee over the fall of the Berlin Wall. Democrats pushed him to do that but he had no doubt that it would only strengthen hard line communists and tighten controls in satellite states of Eastern Europe.

Overall, a great talk & a great event and irrespective of what you think of the Bush family, George Bush Sr. is a great speaker and will go down as one of the more successful American presidents.