WHERE WAS BUSH WHEN NEW YORK WAS BURNING?

My daughter-in-law is a New Yorker. She and her family have a different take on Bush's "heroism" after 9/11 ala this letter to the editor of the NY Times:

To the Editor:

Re "Bush, Evoking 9/11, Vows to 'Build a Safer World' " (front page, Sept. 3):

President Bush promised to be a "uniter"; his domestic policies have riven the country, and his foreign policy has earned us the ire of the world.

President Bush promised that his tax cuts would produce an economic boom; he delivered a big deficit and an anemic economic recovery.

President Bush promised that no child would be left behind, but his underfinancing of his education initiative has left millions of children behind.

President Bush promised "clear skies," but his environmental policy will increase pollution.

And George Bush calls John Kerry a flip-flopper?

David Kornhaber
Venice, Calif., Sept. 3, 2004

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To the Editor:

As someone who for many years has lived just a short walk from the World Trade Center, I found that watching President Bush and the Republican Party present a convention strewn thick with references to the president's valor right after Sept. 11 was a bit thick for me.

I well remember that directly after the attacks, with our neighborhood filled with smoke, sirens and the stench of death, so many of us craved inspiring leadership, but President Bush was nowhere to be found. Where is he? we asked.

When he finally did show up here, three days later, we saw a shaken, uncertain figure toting a bullhorn.

Only from Washington, when he addressed the country from a script, did he seem impressed with the gravity of the city's suffering.

He wasn't there for us at the time of the attacks, and he hasn't been there for us since: city politicians have been turned into mendicants by the Bush administration's notable stinginess in providing promised rebuilding financing for the city.

To see the president swashbuckling into New York as the conquering hero of 9/11, using us as a prop in his re-election campaign, is dismaying.

Nicholas Dawidoff
New York, Sept. 3, 2004