The contrast between the president's rhetoric and the Bush family's lifestyle is nauseating

Michael Kinsley

It is not the fault of Jenna or Barbara Bush that their father has gotten us into a war he doesn't know how to get us out of. And, though you can blame parents for almost anything, George and Laura Bush are no longer responsible for the behaviour of twin daughters in their mid-20s. Presidents, like the rest of us, can't choose relatives. Remember Billy Carter?

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But from what has leaked out, it seems that Jenna and Barbara are party girls who like to drink and dance until the wee hours with aristocrats and frat boys. Jenna has moved to Argentina, where she works for Unicef. Barbara has been visiting. Her first night, partying in Buenos Aires, she lost her purse to a thief. So it would appear that George Bush's daughters are not Amy Carter or Chelsea Clinton or Karenna Gore. So what? Are you surprised?

Nevertheless, there is a war on. It's a war that has killed 3,000 Americans, most about Jenna and Barbara's age or younger, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis of all ages. Bush can be quite eloquent in talking about the sacrifices of American soldiers and - he always adds - their families. In the Reagan style that has become almost mandatory, he uses anecdotes. He talks of Second Lieutenant Frederick Pokorney Jr: "His wife, Carolyne, received a folded flag. His two-year-old daughter, Taylor, knelt beside her mother at the casket to say a final goodbye." Of the US dead, he says: "They did not yearn to be heroes. They yearned to see mom and dad again and to hold their sweethearts and to watch their sons and daughters grow up. They wanted the daily miracle of freedom in America, yet they gave all that up and gave life itself for the sake of others."

No one thinks that the president should have to give up a child to prove that his family is as serious about freedom as these other families he praises. But it would be reassuring to see a little struggle here: some sign that the Bush family truly believes that American soldiers are dying for our freedom, and that it's worth it. Maybe they have had huge arguments. Maybe George and Laura wanted the girls to join the Red Cross or the Peace Corps, or something that would take them off the party circuit. And perhaps the girls said no. But I doubt this scenario; don't you?.. http://tinyurl.com/vcc2v [Open in new window]
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