I’m not an avid Stephen King reader, but I remember years ago being rather engrossed by the Dead Zone. To explain my point I’ll have to be a spoiler for you:
In this book, there are two main characters: one who has recovered from an incredibly long coma, and another whom is a ruthless (not to mention mean and evil) politician. The man awakened from the coma learns has second sight– he can see into the future. As fate would have it, he learns that the ruthless politician will start World War III. This leads him to a dilemma about what to do. (King brings up an analogy in the book concerning “Would one kill Hitler to save many?".) The hero (the coma-awakened man) decides that he has to kill the politician before said politician is, as appears likely, elected president.
The hero hides in a hall of sorts, waiting to get a shot at the politician during a campaign event. However, when the hero rises from the balcony to take his deadly shot, the politican hides behind a child. The hero can’t hurt an innocent and he lowers his gun. It’s over for the hero.
Intrerestingly though, this was a press event. The image of the politician hiding behind the children was revealed to the nation, and his threat was gone.
Hiding behind the children…
The facts are these: The President of the United States was informed that the first plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center before he went in to visit the class. This is indisputable. During his visit, he was quietly informed a second plane had hit the South Tower. This too, is indisputable. He then sat for seven minutes, finishing a story with the children before leaving. This, as well, is indisputable.
George W. Bush claims he stayed “because he didn’t want to scare the children". Does this mean children can’t handle being politely told “good-bye” ? Even if one appeared slightly abrupt to children, are not matters of life and death worth an abrupt change in routine?
Didn’t want to scare the children…
Even if a President
doesn’t possess all the requisite knowledge to make a decision, shouldn’t the Office Holder be actively searching and querying people for information when faced with a national disaster? This incident alone should show how ill-suited George W. Bush is for his office. At best his behavior was incompetent, inept, and indecisive. At worst, well…
We wouldn’t want to scare the children would we?
From: http://discevra.org:8088/index.php?p=11">here.