Article on Bush Speechwriter

There was an interesting (and long) article in the New Yorker last week about Michael Gerson, George Bush’s chief speechwriter.

I was struck by how sincere his faith seems to be, and also the sincerity with which he wants to contribute to the problems of poverty and AIDs. And, yet, like Bush, there is just a stark disconnect between these stated desires and the actual policies he supports.

He gives full support to war, even though pre-emptive war is decidedly against most everything Jesus preached. He sincerely believes that tax breaks for the rich are the best way to help poor people, despite the fact that it is bankrupting the government and causing major funding shortages for programs that the poverty stricken need, (and also ties our hands in getting real health care reform going).

I thought this quote was very revealing, where he is talking about how little money there is for AIDS and other programs he wants to see: “we’re living in a different budgetary situation than we were in 2003, when the President could announce a fifteen-billion-dollar AIDS initiative, and that’s just a reality. There’s nothing that anyone can do about that, and I can’t change that.”

No kidding.Life is about choices. You can’t claim to be compassionate to the poor and then spend all your money on war and tax breaks, and then say “Oh well, all the money’s gone. We’d like to help, really we would, but it’s just beyond our control.”

I get so incredibly frustrated with well-meaning Christians who, although very sincere in their faith, are so blind to the moral results of their own actions. It doesn’t bother me as much when the Karl Roves and Dick Cheneys of the world do this sort of thing, because we all know they are just interested in political power. But when Gerson and Bush (who is apparently a sincere Christian) do it, it gives religious backing to evil deeds, and makes Jesus a servant of belligerence and greed.