High Hopes, Hard Facts...... now Bush must live and lead by his own code.

[RedEarth]

Jan. 31 issue - It was a speech written for the ages, and it will live in history as a powerful affirmation of American ideas and ideals. George W. Bush’s second Inaugural Address was the culmination, in style and substance, of a position he has been veering toward ever since September 11, 2001: that the purpose of American foreign policy must be the expansion of liberty. It is not a new theme for an American president. Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan all spoke in similar tones and terms. Bush, however, has brought to the cause the passion of the convert. In short declarative sentences, influenced by the King James Bible and by his most eloquent predecessors, Bush used virtually his entire speech to set out the distinctively American world view: that “the best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.”



To borrow an old saw about the mission of journalism, Bush’s words will “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Democratic reformers around the world will surely take heart. Dictators will nervously ponder what it all means. This, too, is in a great American tradition. When Wilson and Roosevelt spoke out against empires, it rattled Europe’s great powers. When Kennedy and Reagan spoke about freedom, it worried the juntas of Latin America and the despots of East Asia. When the Carter administration began issuing annual reports on human rights, it unnerved regimes across the world. In speaking honestly and openly about the importance and universality of freedom, America—and, to be fair, Europe—have made a difference. They have put freedom on the global agenda. Bush has aimed to push it even higher
.
In doing so, however, Bush has also pushed higher on the agenda the question of American hypocrisy. I often argue with an Indian businessman friend of mine that America is unfairly singled out for scrutiny abroad. “Why didn’t anyone criticize the French or Chinese for their meager response to the tsunami?” I asked him recently. His response was simple. “America positions itself as the moral arbiter of the world, it pronounces on the virtues of all other regimes, it tells the rest of the world whether they are good or evil,” he said. “No one else does that. America singles itself out. And so the gap between what it says and what it does is blindingly obvious—and for most of us, extremely annoying.” That gap just grew a lot bigger.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6857303/site/newsweek/

[Old and In the Way]

1. Words are cheap. He debases the concept everytime he speaks

the words. When he advocates fair elections and auditable ballots here...then I'll know he believes in democracy.

[ixion]

2. all this debasing talk, and misuse of the word freedom... what's one of

their first actions?

Why, tag all the tourists, of course.

Someone explain to me how this improves the quality of Freedom.

When BushCo (mis)uses the word 'Freedom' they mean it only in the sense of free to screw over anyone they damn well please.

[Career Prole]

3. The chimp just wants to help the less fortunate in the world.

You know...like our "manifest destiny" helped native Americans or our plantation owners helped the Africans.
Greed didn't have anything to do with that stuff either.
We're just a buncha naturally helpful M.F.s, that's all.
:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: