小布什：“我是战时总统!”

　　The word "war" refers to military activities, but it is also commonly used in a figurative sense. In the 1980s and 1990s many people spoke of "cultural wars" in America. One of these conflicts was over the place of post-modern theory in the English and history departments of US universities; this "war" generated a great deal of noise but was largely ignored by the general population. The other "war" was -- is -- over cultural values and moral norms in the larger society: on one level, how skeptical America should be of its Judeo-Christian European civilization, and on another level, how open it should be to changes in morality. Are Americans right to be alarmed at high divorce rates? Should they be upset because so many men and women live together without getting married? How accepting can society wisely be of homosexuality, of abortion, of drug use? Is the family as a social institution just evolving or declining? Can such a decline be arrested and reversed①?

　　These questions necessarily become political matters in America. The Republican Party in particular has cast itself as the defender of "family values". Democrats are quick to point out that, as they see it, Republican lawmakers have actually been busy undermining the economic foundation of American families.

　　In today's cartoon, Pat Oliphant shows us George Bush on the stump. He wears the big Texas cowboy hat that Oliphant gives him to emphasize what the cartoonist considers his immaturity and dependence on a group of ruthless senior advisors. Bush announces, "I am a wartime president!" A "wartime president" is one who must make the hard decisions connected with armed conflict, in Bush's case, the military actions that are a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In return, such a leader tends to enjoy a large measure of support even from voters who disagree with many of his decisions. Politicians like to be "wartime presidents".

　　Unless, of course, the war is going badly.

　　Oliphant portrays Bush as declaring himself at war... to defend traditional values. Iraq? Let's not focus on the current difficulties there. And also not on the questionable justification for the war, those weapons of mass destruction that somehow have never turned up. And let's not talk about the Vietnam War either, from which the young George Bush so conspicuously absented himself, unlike his opponent, Senator John Kerry. In fact, Oliphant implies, this "wartime president" won't talk about military wars at all, just the cultural ones, thank you②.(听英文53580,文章注释535801)