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Here's what the President of the United States said about an Iraqi attempt to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush:
"We should not be surprised by such deeds, coming as they do from a regime like Saddam Hussein's, which is ruled by atrocity, slaughtered its own people, invaded two neighbors, attacked others, and engaged in chemical and environmental warfare."
That President was Bill Clinton, and the year was 1993.
Here's what the current President said about that attempt at his speech to the United Nations last month: "In 1993, Iraq attempted to assassinate the Emir of Kuwait and a former American President." That speech, was hailed - properly - as another defining moment in the Bush Presidency.
Then in a speech in Houston, Bush said of Saddam, "[T]his is the guy who tried to kill my dad." And the Left started a drumbeat that the war against Iraq was "personal."
Guess what? Sometimes it IS personal.
For the past week a murderer been terrorizing the Washington suburbs in a series of seemingly random shootings.
Last Saturday I was sitting on the set at Fox News Channel with Tony Snow as he interviewed the Montgomery County, Maryland Chief of Police, Charles Moose. After the interview I said to Snow, "That's a pretty tough man."
A few days ago a 13-year-old boy, being dropped off at school by his aunt, was gunned down by the murderer. When Chief Moose held a press conference to discuss the shooting of the boy, this pretty tough man said - with a tear rolling out of the corner of his left eye - "Now it's personal."
Sometimes it IS personal.
On September 12, 2001, President Bush, following a conference call with New York Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudy Giuliani, became very emotional as he answered questions from reporters. The AP's Dave Espo wrote, "His eyes were red and wet as he ended his news conference, his head and hands trembling slightly as he made his remarks."
Sometimes it IS personal.
I have known mayors of large cities and small who have felt a personal loss when a tragedy has befallen the citizens they have taken an oath to protect.
Years ago, as a young reporter in Marietta, Ohio, I covered a horrible nursing home fire in which dozens of elderly citizens were killed.
Sometime in the middle of the night, the fire having been extinguished and the victims' bodies having been recovered, the mayor - also a pretty tough guy - asked me to drive him home. When he got into my car he began sobbing.
Months later I asked him about that and he told me he felt he had let the city down. He felt a personal responsibility for the deaths, accidental though they might have been.
I am willing to bet that every cop on patrol in an area where these murders have taken place in suburban Washington wants to be the one to catch the killer. It happened on their watch, in their sector.
Sometimes it IS personal.
Cops. Mayors. Governors. Presidents. If they take their oaths of office seriously, they take their oaths of office ... personally.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today:
A brief history of my reportorial career, a GREAT Catchy Caption ;and a reprise of last year's very amusing Travelogue on getting my Virginia Car Tax sticker for the Mullmobile.
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