Last week, a couple of days before retiring to one of the big damn compounds at which he vacations, President Bush made his way to Walter Reed to give out a few Purple Hearts and to get his picture taken with wounded soldiers, but not the too-skeevy, burn-scarred, brain damaged ones. Ones with nice clean wounds. For better photo-ops.
Here he is with Army Spc. John C. Hoxie from Philippi, West Virginia. On August 21, Hoxie was near an IED that exploded south of Baghdad. And then he was shot. He lost his left hand and his left leg. His right leg was mangled. He suffered "internal injuries," too. He'll finally get to go home late next year.
The point here is not whether or not Hoxie is proud of his service. It's not even the level of care he's receiving at Walter Reed (which his father praises). The point is the picture, of the crippled boy and the standing man.
Said the standing man, "Every time I come to a facility like this I count my blessings." So what the standing man learned from the crippled boy is "Better him than me." And then he gave the crippled boy a medal for getting crippled.
