American journalism

Indeed, there is hope for American journalism, if only the President wouldn't avoid it with speeches on military bases and VFW halls. In an interview with the Boston Globe this week, 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace was asked an interesting question:

Q. President George W. Bush has declined to be interviewed by you. What would you ask him if you had the chance?

A. What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?

The only problem is that many of us were asking these questions six years ago. Had more people asked them, especially journalists, perhaps the country wouldn't be so [expletive] up!