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Monday, March 07, 2005

Europe Limps Toward The Uptake

More ‘Bush was Right’, this time from The Independent:

It is barely six weeks since the US President delivered his second inaugural address, a paean to liberty and democracy that espoused the goal of “ending tyranny in our world”. Reactions around the world ranged from alarm to amused scorn, from fears of a new round of “regime changes” imposed by an all-powerful American military, to suspicions in the salons of Europe that this time Mr Bush, never celebrated for his grasp of world affairs, had finally lost it. No one imagined that events would so soon cause the President’s opponents around the world to question whether he had got it right.

I dislike the article for several reasons, but within this particular paragraph, what bothers me is the marginalization of the Bush doctrine. “No one imagined that events would so soon…”

These worldly happenings are not ‘so soon’. They are a long time coming. Four years, to be precise. Most conservatives- more accurately, most Bush voters- were not paying lip service to poetry and patriotism when they said that September 11th changed them. It is a heartfelt notion; that trauma can have more than a visceral impact. That it can change not only opinions but minds and hearts. 9/11 did just that for many, many Americans.

The sixty-two million that voted to re-elect President Bush are a diverse group, but one thing that they all understood was the power of freedom. The valuation of liberty is made not only through dissent; Kerry voters had that down. It is made through respect, sacrifice, courage, and the will to extend one’s own bounty to others.

The idea that a shot at freedom would unravel the grasps of despots in the Middle East was not born during that January speech. The doctrine that democracy will be projected throughout the world and that its power alone would tip the balance towards peace was not Bush’s new policy statement for the second term. And it certainly was not an ex post facto argument for war in Iraq. It has been the mission of the United States of America ever since it opened its eyes on September 12th. It has been the mission of this country whenever it has seen dark forces gathering.

As much as I can trust a person who isn’t myself or a member of my family, I trust that George Bush gets that. It’s why I voted for him, and it is why most of the country did the same.

Does The Independent get it? Does France, Germany? Of all who ought to, does Kofi Annan get it?

They’re getting there.

Posted on March 7, 2005 08:23 PM. Permalink