Individualist-in-Chief 3 Sep. 2005

Maureen Dowd (“United States of Shame,” New York Times, 3 Sep. 2005) quotes George W. Bush in the wake of hurricane Katrina: "You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, "but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen." This is a curiously self-referential way to address a nation shocked by a major disaster. Dowd also alleges the Bush administration lack empathy. I am again wondering about the neural organization that makes such attitudes natural.