BY GERALD POSNER
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT
What a difference 10 months make. Last November I broke the
unwritten rule that requires journalists to be neutral political
observers when I got embroiled in the controversy over the
presidential election and publicly supported Al Gore.
It was not just with friends that I passionately argued the
election had been stolen and that Mr. Gore would be the better
president. I was one of the signatories to the pompously titled
"Emergency Committee of Concerned Citizens 2000," which
took full-page ads in the New York Times demanding a revote in Palm
Beach County, Fla. I wrote op-eds for Salon.com and the New York
Daily News. On television talk shows from MSNBC to Fox News's
popular "The O'Reilly Factor," I made the case for Mr.
Gore. In thousands of e-mails, I urged voters to deluge Clay
Roberts, director of Florida's Division of Elections, with appeals
for a recount.
Of course, I did not know whether the election had gone for Mr. Gore
or George W. Bush. As a partisan, I did not care. I was convinced
that Mr. Gore was by far the best-qualified candidate and the man
most fit to lead the U.S. Mr. Bush was not only untested nationally,
but he seemed to me bereft of the character or intellect to become a
real leader, and I feared that four years, and possibly eight, under
Mr. Bush would set the country back.
How wrong I was. Since the murderous terror attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush has come alive in a
way I did not think possible. It was as though the attack on
America--which he rightly called an "act of war" from the
start--gave him a focus and clarity I had not earlier seen.
If there was a single event that convinced me my initial feelings
were wrong, it was the president's rather remarkable speech to the
country and a joint session of Congress last Thursday. Like Franklin
Roosevelt or Winston Churchill, he rallied a country's spirit, he
had the courage to tell us the bad news that the upcoming battle
would be neither swift nor easy, and he declared that those who
would destroy our culture and values would not prevail.
I had always found Mr. Bush stiff in his scripted speeches. But
last Thursday he was infused with passion and outrage. His sincerity
was heartfelt, and boosted almost all who listened to him. And
precisely because we all know he is not a masterful orator, the
power of his words and the forcefulness of his delivery carried even
more impact. He rose to this most important occasion.
Sometimes historians wonder whether great leaders are made by the
crises they confront, or whether they would be great leaders even in
untroubled times. More often than not, real leadership flourishes
when faced with imminent threats and dangers. That is what America
faces at the start of the 21st century from a radical perversion of
Islam. And President Bush showed all of us who doubted him, and who
voted against him, that he is indeed a leader.
There will be numerous tests for him in the long battle ahead. But,
as of now, he has converted many of us to admirers, and he deserves
our complete support. The entire administration, from Colin Powell
to Donald Rumsfeld to Dick Cheney, inspires more confidence as we
embark on this uncertain war than we likely would have had in any
Gore administration.
I must sadly admit that Bill Clinton, for whom I voted twice,
could not have delivered that same clear speech last Thursday. His
almost compulsive need to please all sides would have prevented him
from casting the issues as starkly or as unequivocally.
My late father used to tell me that one of the hallmarks of good
character is the courage to admit mistakes. Most people who lock
themselves into a public position want to keep defending their
original stance, even when in their heart they know subsequent
events have proven them incorrect.
Well, I was vocal last year in stating my firm belief that the
wrong man was elected president. Now I am compelled to admit I was
mistaken. The best man for this incredibly hard campaign is now
president. I suspect many of my fellow Democrats feel exactly the
same way.
Mr. Posner is the author of numerous books including
"Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK.
