Follow-up question

Published April 14, 2004 8:23PM (EDT)

The president gave a shaky performance last night, to be charitable, admitting at one point that he's not "quick on his feet" as he painfully searched for answers during his press conference. So it's easy to be snarky. And some people actually think he did a fine job communicating to the American people. Dan Rather, an iconic "plain talker" himself, said during the CBS post-speech analysis that Bush was "steady, competent and forceful" during the Q and A.

But if we could have one follow-up question -- okay we'd want more than one, but this is a start -- we would ask: Mr. President, what were you talking about when you said the following:

"Some of the debate really centers around the fact that people don't believe Iraq can be free; that if you're Muslim, or perhaps brown-skinned, you can't be self-governing or free. I'd strongly disagree with that."

It's a relief that he disagrees, but is there really a debate related to Iraqi sovereignty that centers on "people" who don't believe Iraqis, Muslims, or "brown-skinned" people can govern themselves? If there is, someone please tell us.


By Geraldine Sealey

Geraldine Sealey is senior news editor at Salon.com.

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