President Bush says he gave up golfing in 2003 "in solidarity" with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq. "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," Bush said in a White House interview with the Politico. "I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."
And here I was, thinking the man was callous and clueless because he had not asked the vast majority of (non-military) Americans to sacrifice anything for the war. The nation is divided between those who have something personal at stake - such as a brother, father or sister in uniform in Iraq -- and those who don't. George Bush hasn't imposed on us -- no new taxes to pay for the war, no call to volunteer, no plea for sacrifice on the home front -- so most of us have taken a walk on the war.
Turns out, the man was making a sacrifice for all of us.
He is not as obtuse as we thought.
He gave up golf.
Why didn't he tell Jim Lehrer this when he had the chance?
Asked in 2006 by the PBS newsman why he hadn't demanded more of Americans during
the last four years, Bush gave a stunning answer: "I think a lot of
people are in this fight. They sacrifice peace of mind when they see the
terrible images of violence on TV each night."
   Of course, that's assuming they were watching.
   American Idol had much better ratings (some 30 million viewers at a time).

This is one of the most challenging and uncomfortable subjects in American
society - the lack of shared responsibility, across all social and economic
classes, in the nation's defense .
   That is what co-authors Frank Schaeffer and Kathy Roth-Douquet, military
next-of-kin both of them, argued in their important 2006 book, AWOL: The Unexcused
Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service and How It Hurts Our
Country.
   Only certain segments of our society are being targeted by recruiters, or
stepping forward to serve - and it is not, by and large, the elite, educated
and wealthy classes of either left or right political leaning. The elites are
mostly sitting out.
   "What we have now is ridiculous," Schaeffer told me in an interview. "What we need
is a level playing field on which all people, from all levels of the society,
are asked to serve. But I think what's happening in the military is symbolic
of a wider social trend, as seen by the declining numbers of people who take
part in elections, for instance. We can't continue this way; it jeopardizes
the democracy. People have to participate. We all have a social
responsibility; it's not all about personal preferences."
   For Schaeffer, this is a profound moral issue, put best in his book:
   "When those who benefit most from living in a country contribute the least
to its defense and those who benefit least are asked to pay the ultimate
price, something happens to the soul of that country."
George Bush lost his soul long ago, and he's imperiled the nation's. The November election can't come soon enough.