I guess the president missed the memo. At his final press conference of 2004, and just days before Christmas, Bush unintentionally may have inserted himself in a deep religio-political controversy.
Here’s how Bush ended today’s press conference:
“Listen, thank you all very much. I wish everybody — truly wish everybody a happy holidays.”
Oops. That’s not what Bush was supposed to say at all. Christians, presumably including Bush, are supposed to actually boycott commercial enterprises that dare to wish people “happy holidays” when they should be saying “Merry Christmas.” Indeed, it was supposed to be Bush’s election-day success that freed Christians from concerns over non-Christians’ feelings in the first place.
When they’re not calling on boycotts, some anti-“happy holidays” crusaders are actually insisting that Christians are the victims of a “reverse apartheid.” There’s even a new group called the Committee to Save Merry Christmas, whose sole purpose is to prevent people from wishing others a “happy holidays” this time of year. As the CtSMC argues:
“A covert and deceptive war has been waged on Christmas to remove any mention of it from the public square during the Christmas season.”
And now their beloved president, whom they sometimes believe was chosen directly by God to lead, has wished everyone a “happy holidays.” Bush, apparently, has joined in on this “covert and deceptive war” — and he’s on the side of the secularists.
So, religious right activists, what are you prepared to do about this?