Bush's 'Freedom Speech'

NY Times ^ | January 21, 2005 | WILLIAM SAFIRE

[neverdem]

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Washington

On his way out of the first Cabinet meeting after his re-election, President Bush gave his longtime chief speechwriter the theme for the second Inaugural Address: "I want this to be the freedom speech."

In the next month, the writer, Michael Gerson, had a heart attack. With two stents in his arteries, the recovering writer received a call from a president who was careful not to apply any deadline pressure. "I'm not calling to see if the inaugural speech is O.K.," Bush said. "I'm calling to see if the guy writing the inaugural speech is O.K."

Yesterday's strongly thematic address was indeed "the freedom speech." Not only did the words "freedom, free, liberty" appear 49 times, but the president used the world-watched occasion to expound his basic reason for the war and his vision of America's mission in the world.

I rate it among the top 5 of the 20 second-inaugurals in our history. Lincoln's profound sermon "with malice toward none" is incomparable, but Bush's second was better than Jefferson's mean-spirited pouting at "the artillery of the press."

In Bush's "second gathering" (Lincoln called it his "second appearing"), the Texan evoked J.F.K.'s "survival of liberty" phrase to convey his central message: "The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands." Bush repeated that internationalist human-rights idea, with a slight change, in these words: "The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

The change in emphasis was addressed to accommodationists who make "peace" and "the peace process" the No. 1 priority of foreign policy. Others of us - formerly known as hardliners, now called Wilsonian idealists - put freedom first, recalling that the U.S. has often had to go to war to gain and preserve it. Bush makes clear that it is human liberty, not peace, that takes precedence, and that it is tyrants who enslave peoples, start wars and provoke revolution. Thus, the spread of freedom is the prerequisite to world peace.

It takes guts to take on that peace-freedom priority so starkly. Bush, by retaliatory and pre-emptive decisions in his first term - and by his choice of words and his tall stance in this speech, and despite his unmodulated delivery - now drives his critics batty by exuding a buoyant confidence reminiscent of F.D.R. and Truman.

He promised to use America's influence "confidently in freedom's cause." He jabbed at today's Thomases: "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."

Bush has seen the enemy and it is not us. Nor is it only a group of nations (the "axis of evil"). Nor is the prime enemy the tactic of terrorism.

The president identified the enemy (and did not euphemize it, as Nixon's writers did, as "the adversary") a half-dozen times in this speech. The archenemy of freedom, now as ever, is tyranny.

That's thinking big, with history in mind. That comes from reading Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident, and sends a message of hope to democrats jailed by despots in places like China, Zimbabwe and Saudi Arabia. Bush embraced "the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in the world," but added that our active encouragement of reform "is not primarily the task of arms."

That was also a reference to Iraq, where the greatest danger to postelection democracy is less from Zarqawi's terrorist murderers than from the legion of Baathists who want to re-impose Saddam's brand of tyranny.

A metaphorical nitpick: he said our liberation of millions lit "a fire in the minds of men ... and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world." I would have replaced "this untamed fire," which could be dangerous, with "the light from this fire," which would have illuminated the "darkest corner." (Once a speechwriter ...)

Evidence that Bush's "freedom speech" was tightly edited for time was in his concluding evocation of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell. Cut out of a near-final draft was the line on the side of the bell from Leviticus that rings out Bush's theme: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof ..."

[I_dmc]

This guy liked the speech, too.

[Soul Seeker]

I feed off their hair pulling. It re-affirms that what we are doing is right.

I sometimes have disagreements with William Safire, but he analysed this speech and correctly gave it and the man that delivered it his due. Well done.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

It's high time our allies realize their existance depends on the spread of liberty and freedom.

Meaning, their existence depends on us. Unfortunately, they are more engaged in the politics of power than the appropriate use of power.

[windchime]

"(Once a speechwriter ...)"

Thanks for the ping, Howlin!

Writers are compelled to revise to accomodate their own style, as Saffire readily admits.

Noonan's evolution from praise to disdain in a matter of ten hours seems to go beyond a compulsion to edit. Her comments would have drawn little attention but for the contradiction in her opinions. It's certainly what piqued my interest. Maybe that was the plan.

[Sassy_Sissy]

LOL! Rush is talking about how the liberals are so upset that Bush stole one of their words....Freedom. I never ever associtated a liberal with the word freedom.....I associate them with "DEPENDENT".

[woofie]

The critics were already nuts

[Mudboy Slim]

"Bush makes clear that it is human liberty, not peace, that takes precedence, and that it is tyrants who enslave peoples, start wars and provoke revolution. Thus, the spread of freedom is the prerequisite to world peace. It takes guts to take on that peace-freedom priority so starkly. Bush, by retaliatory and pre-emptive decisions in his first term - and by his choice of words and his tall stance in this speech, and despite his unmodulated delivery - now drives his critics batty by exuding a buoyant confidence reminiscent of F.D.R. and Truman.

He promised to use America's influence "confidently in freedom's cause." He jabbed at today's Thomases: "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." Bush has seen the enemy and it is not us. Nor is it only a group of nations (the "axis of evil"). Nor is the prime enemy the tactic of terrorism. The president identified the enemy (and did not euphemize it, as Nixon's writers did, as "the adversary") a half-dozen times in this speech. The archenemy of freedom, now as ever, is tyranny."

Well said, Dubyuh...MUD

[OldFriend]

So this is what upset lil Peggy Noonan.

[Wingsofgold]

I liked his speech. I even like the yellin an screamin from the Left. Hehhee.

[luvie]

"Bush makes clear that it is human liberty, not peace, that takes precedence,...

Of course, it is obvious that if you haven't got liberty there can never BE peace!

...and despite his unmodulated delivery

I believe that his soft voice and his strong words have even more effect than if he were being "preachy" and pounding the podium!

[Mudboy Slim]

Yep...he and his speech-writers nailed it.

"...it is tyrants who enslave peoples, start wars and provoke revolution. Thus, the spread of freedom is the prerequisite to world peace."

Spread the word...this is the gameplan in a nutshell!!

FReegards...MUD

[MeekOneGOP]

Excellent!

Dubya's "four more years" begins! Gotta love it. :^D

[luvie]

...this is the gameplan in a nutshell!!

I think our guys in Afganistan, Iraq, Bosnia, and other spots around the world are well into the game, and the score is racking up for freedom and then peace!

[international american]

BTTT

[EternalVigilance]

"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."

Odd indeed...

[Mudboy Slim]

"So this is what upset lil Peggy Noonan."

Yep...Ms. Noonan missed the mark in her last column, didn't she?!

FReegards...MUD

[OldFriend]

Petty Miss Peggy has speechwriter envy.

[FBD]

President Bush gave a good speech. Bringing freedom to the entire world is a lofty goal. However, there is a danger of going from "liberty to force", and John Quincy Adams warned about this in his speech: "Monsters to Destroy"

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'Monsters to Destroy'
John Quincy Adams 1821

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"And now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of the elder world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of Congreve rockets and Shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind?

Let our answer be this: America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government. America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity.

She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights.

She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own.

She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.

She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.

She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.

She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example.

She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force.

She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.

[America's] glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice."

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.

[Mudboy Slim]

"...speechwriter envy."

LOL...yer probably right. I think she made herself look a little small. I loved the speech when he first spoke the words, but I like it even more as I go back and study the transcript.

Dubyuh's laid out a very aggressive conservative agenda fer the next four years.

FReegards...MUD

[Mudboy Slim]

"[America's] glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice."

The wisdom of our Founding Fathers is beyond debate...thanks fer providing that prescient passage, my FRiend.

FReegards...MUD