Politics & Power Quote by George W. Bush

Crisis rhetoric lives or dies on whether it can turn panic into purpose, and Bush’s line is built to do exactly that. “Great tragedy has come to us” frames the moment as an external blow, something that arrives from outside rather than something that might expose internal fault lines. The passive construction matters: tragedy “has come,” not “we failed,” not “we were unprepared.” It’s condolence with a subtle exhale of absolution.

Then comes the pivot: “we are meeting it with the best that is in our country.” This is a classic presidential move after national trauma: shift attention from the event to the response, from vulnerability to moral performance. “Courage and concern for others” doesn’t just praise; it prescribes. It tells citizens what emotions are acceptable (steadfastness) and which ones should be domesticated (rage, fear, suspicion) by channeling them into community-minded virtue.

The most strategic phrase is “because this is America. This is who we are.” That repetition functions like a stamp of authenticity, converting behaviors into identity. If you act bravely, you’re not merely coping; you’re proving Americanness. The subtext is unifying and disciplining at once: dissent or hesitation can start to read as deviance from the national self.

In the post-9/11 context, this kind of language helped knit together a shaken public and legitimize sweeping action under the banner of collective character. It’s solace, branding, and mobilization compressed into two sentences: grief acknowledged, agency reclaimed, the nation reintroduced to itself as the hero of its own aftermath.