"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
Former U.S. president George H.W. Bush was forced here Tuesday into a defense of his son, current U.S. President George W. Bush, whose Mideast policies were derided by a hostile audience.
"My son is an honest man," Bush told Gulf Arabs attending a leadership conference here. "He is working hard for peace. It takes a lot of guts to get up and tell a father about his son in those terms when I just told you the thing that matters in my heart is my family."
Bush added: "How come everybody wants to come to the United States if the United States is so bad?"
Although former leader, who served as president from 1989-1993, claimed to have faced tougher audiences, he conceded that attacks on his sons hurt more than those on him. As curiosity mounts regarding the advice James Baker, the senior Bush's secretary of state, is giving Washington on the war in the Iraq, the former president declined to reveal how he had counseled his son on the conflict.
The oil-rich Persian Gulf used to be safe territory for former president Bush, an oil man who brought Arab leaders together in a coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait in 1991.
But gratitude for the elder Bush, who served as president from 1989-93, was overshadowed by the foreign policy of his son, whose invasion of Iraq and support for Israel are deeply unpopular here.
"We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he's doing all over the world," a woman audience member bluntly told Bush after his keynote speech.
Bush appeared stunned as the audience of young business leaders whooped and whistled in approval.
The retired president had just finished a folksy address on leadership by telling the audience how deeply hurt he feels when his son the president is criticized.
"This son is not going to back away," Bush said, his voice quivering. "He's not going to change his view because some poll says this or some poll says that, or some heartfelt comments from the lady who feels deeply in her heart about something. You can't be president of the United States and conduct yourself if you're going to cut and run. This is going to work out in Iraq. I understand the anxiety. It's not easy."