The world will long remember this good man and his vision, long after you have been forgotten.
Beauseant!
Monumentally unremarkable speech made more forgettable by his need to continue the fiction, and implying once more that islam is just another religion of normal human beings.
Monumentally unremarkable response.
Not you again!!!!
It was a good speech, the best part was where he said "even the life of the unwanted has value".
Compare this principled and consistent address with Bill Clinton's "Laundry List" style of big speeches. If you are of the opinion that the Laundry List is a more substantive speech, this reveals a lot about your view of the role of government.
spoken like a true america hating liberal
God Bless President Bush! The President certainly enters his second term with undiminished confidence in his mission.
My uncle is pretty normal, very American and quite conservative. He's also a Muslim. I take it he's not welcome?
An excellent speech aimed beyond the "now".
The parts about freedom, and being created in God's image........ALL of that, negated by one diplomatic phrase?
wow.
I share your dim view of Islam as currently practiced, but can you not give the benefit of the doubt to Mr. Bush? He is on a mission to reform Islam into something compatible with modern life and human liberty. He has said as much, many times before.
The only other option, if we wish civilization to survive, is a new Crusade for the destruction of Islam by force. I don't blame the President for seeking honorable alternatives before taking that step.
-ccm
On the contrary: I would not be happy with a president who allowed himself to be manipulated by hotheads into insulting all members of one of the largest, fastest growing religions on the planet. I don't like Islam ("Submission") anymore than you do -- I think Islam is the antithesis of freedom and love. It wouldn't surprise me if Dubya thought so too. But it would be stupid and amateurish for him to say so to the world.
I thought the speech remarkable and monumental because Dubya threw down the guantlet to the rest of the world, declaring that in this new millenium, America will strive to make the enslaved, free. Instead of attacking and offending people on the basis of their religion -- as you would have him do, and which would be monumentally stupid -- Dubya spoke in terms of freedom and slavery. It was wise of Dubya: Morally, there is zero concern about offending those who advocate slavery.
I Was a Daughter of Islam; What I discovered when I lifted the veil on my world:
4 Ways to Reach Out to Muslims
There are more than 1 billion Muslims in the world, and more than 5 million in the U.S., making Islam one of the fastest-growing religions in America—quickly emerging as the second-largest religion behind Christianity. Here's what you can do to make an impact.
I respect why you take that view of the speech, but for my money, I think this was historic, and not unremarkable.
"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. "
This is no less than a new doctrine. It transcends ideology completely. Islam is a scourge the world seems to face every 700 years or so (710, 1450, 2002). When Islam retreats, some other country or philosophy will fill the void that takes the on the dogma that for the good of all they should be masters, while all others be slaves.
We will look back on this speech, and upon W in the same way we are beginning to with Reagan. As the years pass, Reagan's greatness increases; his legacy looms larger as we move away from him.
Future leaders in other countries will look upon this speech the same way we look today at the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln freed the slaves here in the US. Bush has freed them around the world.
This also fits perfectly with his doctrine, "You can only be for us, or against us."
I turned off the radio when he did that. Islam is incompatible with our Declaration of Independence AND The Constitution.
Islam is incompatible with life.
Let'em undergo a reformation, then maybe they can apply to join the human race again.
LOL. Funny and true.
I agree, but you're too kind.
It was a speech that shouted the bullying hubris of a challenge to half the planet to shape up or face our wrath, but, once again it displayed the shameful timid failure to actually name our preeminent enemy.
IMHO, It fell somewhere between nonsense and national shame.
SABBATICAL???
Anybody know what the heck he's talking about?
Are Gulf I, Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo supposed to HAVE beEN "sabbaticals"??
Then I looked at the speech as a whole and its message of liberty and freedom being, in essence, God's gift and desire for mankind, and Bush's commitment to support it and spread it.
Then it became apparent to me that the statement did stick out like a sore thumb, and that perhaps it was meant to. The message of liberty, human dignity, freedom, free choice and reason is not compatable with much of the Koran and the factions that have built up around it. That is obvious with any reasoned look at nations that have based their laws on those writings. There you have compulsion, hatred, and the seeds that produce the homocide/suicide mentality that proclaims that God approves of such murder of innocents and will reward such animlas with 72 of His precious daughters. The seeds of the very thing that the President's speech was aimed squarely against.
With these thoughts came a potential understanding that the President's speech was operating on several levels (IMHO) and if so, was masterfully done. He lays down a gauntlet for our waivering allies, he lays down a gauntlet for tyrants throughout the world, of any stripe...and he exposes the Koran and the radical islamic factions surrounding it for what they are. By including such a comment in his speech, he challenges Muslims everywhere to step up to the plate and test and compare the vision of liberty with the reality of their societies and the writings they are based upon. It fails that test. Bush is sowing the seeds for a potential major adjustment to and reformation if Islam...and using the military, diplomacy, economics and philosophy to do it. I believe that is the real essence of the speech in this regard.
...and philosophically he has done it with mild, even complimentary words.
I believe the speech, in retrospect is a masterpiece in that regard...and if the second component of it, the ownership society he speaks of here in the U.S. (as opposed to the liberals "great" society of pure socialization and marxism) is pursued witht the same type of commitment he has shown in the war on terror, then I believe the speech will overall prove to be a monumental philosophical masterpiece.
Now, that does not discount or quell the issues of too much government involvement in the quest for an ownership society IMHO..the free market can make that happen with very little government intervention IMHO, in fact was meant to. It also does not quell misgivings over the entire immigration and border control issues to date...but I do believe I see movement in this issue by the administration to a more sane and more comprehensive border control/legal process program I hope will be forthcoming...one that encourages legal processes for immigration, citezenship...but punishes, prevents, and detains the illegals. Or the CFR fiasco, etc. On all fronts, we shall see.
But overall, the mood is upbeat, the philosophy is on target and we shall just have to see how the President lives up to it and performs in his actions and influence with the legislature and judiciary. I believe he will do well...and we will thank that same Almighty Creator that he was in office as one whom the Creator can influence in this manner as opposed to Mr., Kerry or any of his ilk.
Best Fregards.
I can certainly see which sentence set you off, and I agree with you 100% with regard to Islam. But that's just 1% of the speech.
In particular I object to the premise Bush made that eliminating tyranny is the goal of the war on terror; tyranny will never ever be eliminated, and to think that such elimination is possible is the errand of a fool.
But with regard to the speech you state that it is unremarkable, and I disagree with that because of what comprised the other 99% of the words.
I'm revisiting a historical speech which was made in Pennsylvania about 142 years ago by the American president in office at the time. That speech was also judged to be unremarkable by many influential sources of the time, and history proved them wrong.
I'm not a big fan of Bush, but you mark my words; this speech will someday be recollected as one of the great inauguration addresses of all time.
The world will long remember this good man and his vision, long after you have been forgotten.
Beauseant!