En route to Atlanta aboard Air Force One, aides warned that “every time you take a run at the edge you break down.” Bush brushed them off. “I can do it this time” without crying, he said. But the memory was too much for Bush. As he recalled the prayer scene, tears began to slip from his eyes. “Here we go,” he told the crowd.
Time was when crying in public was a political no-no. Edmund Muskie quit the 1972 presidential race after he broke down during the New Hampshire primary. And Colorado Rep. Pat Schroeder was ridiculed for weeping when she pulled out of the ‘88 race. But Ronald Reagan’s frequent–and moving–teary appearances have made crying in high places acceptable. “It’s a different day and a different era and thank goodness it is,” said Schroeder last week.
