Ten months after the closest and most scrutinized presidential election in history, GW students and the American public say they are pleased with President George W. Bush’s handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Bush’s job approval rating jumped from 50 percent in August to 90 percent last week, according to a Gallup poll. This is the highest approval rating ever reported by Gallup.

On campus, both Democrats and Republicans seem to agree that Bush is doing a respectable job in office. The strong support from Democrats is surprising to many, but it reinforces the fact that this tragedy has brought the country together.

Many students said they believe Bush is showing the nation that he has the ability to be a true leader.

“He is spreading a message of patience and unity,” said Jesse Demastrie, president of the College Democrats. “While the majority of Americans want decisive action and retaliation taken against the perpetrators, he is carefully walking the line between being seemingly harsh and aggressive, and being soft.”

Demastrie said although these terrorist attacks were an attempt to pull apart the United States, they actually brought the country together.

“President Bush and his colleagues are doing an excellent job dealing with this national tragedy,” Demastrie said. “Now, we must do our part and show them our support. While we Democrats do not agree with Bush on much, we must recognize that, during this time, we are no longer Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Greens, Reforms, socialists, communists or anarchists. We are Americans.”

Junior Sandya Swamy, who said she is not a strong Bush supporter, said she believes Congress is acting appropriately. She said she has concerns with some of Bush’s recent statements.

“He needs to be careful with how he phrases things,” she said. “Other than (Osama) bin Laden, there are no other enemies that we know of.”
Swamy said she was disappointed with Bush’s use of the word “crusade” in his speech to joint sessions of Congress last week.

“He referred to crusade in his speech, which is very scary to me because it has religious connotations that are not appropriate at this time,” she said. “The U.S. needs to feel we are unified and also needs to show other countries we are unified.”

Swamy said she finds the racial discrimination against people of Middle East descent very disturbing.

“We want to fight terrorism, but we need to know the specifics and how to find our enemies,” she said.

Many students said they believe it is important for Bush to have definite evidence about who is guilty for the attacks before making any drastic decisions.

“We need concrete evidence that bin Laden is the perpetrator before any shots are fired,” said junior Peter Hung Cheng, a Republican. “Bush also needs a clear plan of action to guide U.S. involvement in Afghanistan to locate those responsible, or else we may have the blood of thousands of innocent people.”

Sophomore Lindsay Fincher, a CD executive board member, agrees that Bush is handling the situations appropriately.

“Considering Bush is a relatively inexperienced politician on the international level, he is handling these circumstances very well,” she said.

Fincher said she is pleased that Bush is waiting to get evidence and working with allies before making any attacks.

“He is assuring the American people that everything will work out and is clearly laying out his plans for action,” Fincher said.

One student interviewed said she did not approve of Bush’s actions.

Freshman Vivian Melvin, a Republican, said she was a strong supporter of Bush before the tragedy but her perceptions of him have changed.

“I thought Bush was doing a great job before the attacks. Since then, he seems to make a lot of promises that he cannot deliver,” Melvin said.

Some students expressed the readiness for revenge immediately, while others favor more diplomatic measures. Regardless of where they stand on the issue, students said unifying the nation is the most important task at hand.

“Bush has succeeded in uniting a torn country using the common values that hold us all together: freedom, respect, and brotherhood,” Cheng said.