Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Do you care to share any of them, or are you not allowed to do that?
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Well, quickly, as my handler is out of the room for a minute . . .
I thought it was good. Not great. He's still not an inspiring speaker. And, I was in and out of the room during the speech.
But, the main theme of working to spread freedom and democracy was good, and well-aimed, I thought. Contrary to the WaPo's take on it, I think Bush has been visibly working on some of the countries they named as being unaffected by his efforts.
Elections happened in Afghanistan, and are about to happen in Iraq. There has been pressure on the Saudis to change, and there has been some small change. I can't imagine Syria's feeling very comfortable right now. Iran is about to change (well, I thought that last year, too, but, we'll see . . .). Bush came down clearly against the anti-democratic problems in Putin's backyard. Do you think a relatively clean Palestinian election would have happened without our pressure?
In short, he spoke of a theme I like, and that he has consistently valued. People can always say well, yeah, but what about {
fill in the name of some undemocratic country here}, but, progress is better than no progress, and there's visible progress. If you think people picking their own leaders is one of the very highest of values, then his theme has some resonance, and his record shows something more than just lip service to it.
I bet his speech makes for some nervous dreams tonight across parts of the world.
