George W. Bush Calls for End to Pandemic Partisanship [View all]
Source: New York Times
In a video posted online, the former president, who generally avoids speaking out on current affairs, urged Americans to “remember how small our differences are” in a time of crisis.
By Peter Baker
May 3, 2020
Updated 2:42 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON — Former President George W. Bush called on Americans on Saturday to put aside partisan differences, heed the guidance of medical professionals and show empathy for those stricken by the coronavirus and the resulting economic devastation.
In a three-minute video message, Mr. Bush, who rarely speaks out on current events, struck a tone of unity that contrasted with the more combative approach taken at times by President Trump as the former president evoked the sense of national solidarity in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“Let us remember how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat,” Mr. Bush said in the professionally produced video set against music and photographs of medical workers helping victims of the virus and of ordinary Americans wearing masks. “In the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants. We are human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God. We rise or fall together and we are determined to rise.”
Mr. Bush’s message was part of a series of videos aired online as part of a 24-hour live-streamed project, “The Call to Unite,” that also featured Oprah Winfrey, Tim Shriver, Julia Roberts, Martin Luther King III, Sean Combs, Quincy Jones, Naomi Judd, Andrew Yang and others.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/politics/george-w-bush-coronavirus-unity.html
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