January 28, 2003

Whaddya know?

Here's what I wanted him to say:

I know what I'm doing, and when I'm done doing it we will be safer than we are today.

Here's what he said:

"Whatever action is required, whenever action is necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American people."

I paused a moment when I reread my words yesterday: it was the personal "I" that caught my attention. Was that what I wanted? I asked myself. The personal assurance of George W. Bush? But that is, in fact, what he gave to the American people this evening.

What I wanted:

We're going to get him. We're going to get him, and then we're going after the rest of our enemies, and when we're done there won't be a red cent flowing into the coffers of the barbarians.

What I got:

"We will work for a prosperity that is broadly shared … and we will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American people."

Close enough.

I wrote:

We're going to put them all down so thoroughly that they'll never, ever get up. The full might of the United States of America is going to be brought to bear...

He said:

"And if war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United States military—and we will prevail."

Wanted to hear:

...and we will drag their medieval culture kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and teach them to value human life far more than the poetry of a seventh-century merchant-warrior.

Actually heard:

"We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and death as they speak out for liberty, human rights, and democracy. Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government, and determine their own destiny — and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom."

Again, close enough...not so much with the dragging, kicking, and screaming, but as the President said in the Best Bit of the evening, "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity."

Thought would be nice:

Our cause is just, and we will prevail, and you won't have to carry a folding bicycle to work with you anymore.

Am satisfied with:

"If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means — sparing, in every way we can, the innocent."

He didn't say anything about my bicycle, which was a disappointment. And there was all this domestic stuff he kept talking about, which will no doubt cause much frothing in the punditious sea. But he gave us the date we'll be making our case for war (February 5), reasonable assessments of the threat, and assurances that the threat will be dealt with.

I particularly appreciated the juxtaposition of the export of American compassion--in the form of an outreach to the desperately AIDS-ridden African continent--against the export of American strength and military power. I was also struck by the thought that all of the domestic issues he touched on--tax relief, generous reform of a sophisticated health care system, hydrogen-friggin'-powered cars, and programs to assist those in need--would have seemed like wondrous pipe-dreams to any Iraqi listening in. The things a country can focus on when its leadership doesn't shoot people in the head or strap them to a chair and apply high-voltage electrodes to their genitalia!

Those are just first impressions...more, perhaps, tomorrow.