[RhoTheta]

The speech was tremendous. I think Bottum is right on. I was surprised at Noonan's response, but I think that what Bush decided to do instead of the usual inaugural address was to get a jump on the work of his second term by laying out a major change in foreign policy direction for the United States. When I heard the speach, I sat there thinking, "Say, What? I can't follow this; I'm going to have to read it." The wording is so compact that it is hard to absorb all that is there when spoken. It is in the reading that you can pick up what he is doing. Peggy Noonan is a poet, as my wife pointed out, and she was expecting a more traditionally "inaugural" kind of speech. Upon reading the speech myself, and just coming from finishing John Adams, by David McCullough, I didn't perceive this inaugural address as "God-drenched" at all. Everything written by any of the founders seemed more so than this.

Consider that George W. has just been re-elected with a much larger mandate than Clinton had and that his Natural Law philosophy, as magnificently analyzed by Joseph Bottum, is subscribed to by a large portion of the electorate. This address not only puts on notice tin pot dictators, and monarchies such as the Saudis, but our State Department, that a major course correction is coming. Add the appointement of Dr. Rice, another Christian, and you have the possible start of a realignment of our foreign policy to drop the hypocritical backing of any government, no matter how dismal its human rights record, just for the expediency of the short term goal. It will be exciting to see how that body responds to having its paradigm shifted away from all its cynically pragmatic old accomodations with evil.

[livius]

I saw it also as a sort of revised Monroe Doctrine: that is, because the fundamental interest of the US is freedom (which it actually is, even if people are only thinking of it in an economic sense), any place in the world that threatens this interest is now threatening us.

I thought it was a pretty breathtaking concept, and like you, I could scarcely believe that I was hearing something so momentous in an Inaugural Address, which is normally the time for meaningless platitudes (I guess that was what Peggy Noonan was expecting!).

[demkicker]

It will be exciting to see how that body responds to having its paradigm shifted away from all its cynically pragmatic old accomodations with evil.

You can bet Putin and Chirac are beside themselves with rage. Once more, they've been trumped by Bush, and Condi hasn't even paid them a visit yet!

[fish hawk]

I expect the "World" to hate us even more because of Bush's love of the Lord. Remember that Jesus said in Matt:24:9, " ...ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." But then He said something else to note also: " what good is it to gain the world but lose your soul."