The Speech

President Bush's noon-time address left me speechless in appreciation. As a long-standing advocate of "American Exceptionalism," I dissented from his original hostility to nation building. Though the 9/11 attacks plainly pushed the President in a different direction, I never dreamed Bush would adopt Exceptionalism (albeit deny being anointed by god), much less make it the lede of his brilliantly written, beautifully delivered second Inaugural address:

[O]ur duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability - and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.

The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause. . .

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

The President also spoke to skeptics -- both not-our-war nihilists at home and oppressive autocrats abroad -- in words we'll long remember:

Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty - though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.

For half a decade, liberals viewed Bush through distortions of their own doctrinal demons. The shallow extreme left pre-judged him, so saw instead their most terrible fear: the four-AM front-door knock of Gestapo. An admirable concern for civil rights -- crucial during dark moments of America's past, but now dangerously overbroad -- caused them to confuse conservatives with Hitler. The more stable of these merely are paranoid and detached from current events--for example, claiming that the fact that not all terrorism is Islamic invalidates battling terrorists who are. The most dangerous fringe earnestly argues down is up, north is south--and flickering fascistic forces felled the twin towers with TNT, and Flight 93 with a Federal missile.

More discerning lefties gazed at a different glass, silvered on one side--a mirror reflecting deep-seated doubts about their own philosophy. Liberals conversant with history recall the doctrine's stirring commitment to ubiquitous freedom regardless of race or geography, espoused by Presidents from Lincoln to Wilson to two Roosevelts. Yet after 9/11, Bush co-opted this rhetoric, and repeated it today:

Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause - in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy ... the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments ... the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives - and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself - and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home - the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.

Such thinking confused Democrats, perhaps without knowing why. Liberal George Packer, in the New Yorker exactly a year ago, was among the first with an accurate diagnosis:

[S]ince the nineteen-sixties, the Democratic Party has had no foreign policy. Its leaders have continued to speak the language of liberal internationalism, but after Vietnam most Democrats haven’t wanted to back up the talk with power. They continued to put their faith in institutions like the United Nations (where Saddam’s Iraq was a member in good standing and Libya chaired the human-rights commission) long after it was apparent that these institutions needed repair. By the nineteen-nineties, liberal internationalism had become an atrophied muscle, with little fibre or sinew left.

Put differently, the left retained its lofty language and aspirations while purging every plausible technique that might achieve their goals. That's why they prefer nuance--it allows liberals to duck the hard questions. No wonder moderate Democrats resent Bush: he applies pi to problems while they're stuck trying to square the circle.

Unwilling to confront a philosophy long past its sell-by date, Democrats instead elevate insincerity into doctrine: the left reversed course to condemn Bush from the right. A Jesus they deride supposedly would disagree. Invading Iraq, they say, was wrong because other autocrats pose similar threats: North Korea has nukes, China has nukes plus American T-bills, the 9/11 plotters were Saudis, third world murders are no concern of America, etc. But this proves too much--if we agree on toppling the Axis of Evil, why quibble about where Bush chooses to begin? And, of course, the claim ignores the facts. North Korea is tough precisely because it has bomb--America started with Saddam fearing he would soon use WMDs and thus increase his leverage. China's huge and impossible to invade, and I didn't hear the left demanding war when the Chi-Coms grounded our radar aircraft and held its crew hostage, a crisis resolved through the sort of patient diplomacy lefties claim the Administration lacks. Liberals braying about two-generation old family ties to Saudi royals should raise their eyes from Michael Moore's propaganda long enough to notice that this Bush disengaged from, and pulled essentially all our troops out of, Saudi Arabia. And the new-found indifference to the plight of non-Americans undermines their cherished theories of multiculturism and UN/world government--after all, if Democrats don't care Saddam slaughtered innocent Iraqis, why should America care that non-Americans Kofi Annan and Jacques Chirac opposed stopping the slaughter?

Even more phony is the left's on-again, off-again concern for "our boys" in the military. They opposed the war, but now insist we needed more troops. The dissented from upping defense spending, but blame Bush for a (non-existant) shortage of armor. They fret over unfortunate and unintended civilain casualties, but ignore actual war criminals using ruses to kill soldiers and beheading unarmed civilians. Properly horrified by Mi Lai more than thirty years ago, they've essentially switched sides.

The contridictions, and loss of confidence and elections, forced liberals into a corner: insisting only they, not conservatives, champion justice for the poor. Today, President Bush blocked that line of retreat as well:

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time. . .

We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" - they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.

Those words might have come from Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt . . . or Acorn or Justice for Janitors. That they emanated from President Bush makes liberals crazy and violent. Understandably--what might happen should the poor of every nation realize conservatism both cares and is their sole effective champion.

(links added 8pm)

More:

Inaugural snapshots.

(via the reborn Leaning to the Right)