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His feet may have landed on the deck of a carrier, but judging from the jubilancy and joy aboard that platform Thursday, Bush's spirit soared higher than that Navy Viking jet that brought him there as he greeted, proudly saluted and posed for pictures with the dauntless men and women of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, en route to San Diego, completing a venturesome and arduous 9-month tour of duty.
Indeed, both crew and Commander-In-Chief were scaling the heights atop Cloud 9, their spirits boosted after one of history's swiftest battlefield sweeps, the President's historic landing on board that carrier the perfect metaphor as he boldly marks the end of major combat operations only 6 weeks after the first bombs fell over Baghdad.
The beaming faces, the glad-handing, the warm hugs and countless kisses were real and honest-to-goodness as George W. Bush himself, and spoke of that special bond of solidarity, that unique rapport this President forged with Americans of every stripe post-9/11 -- a special relationship transcending petty partisanship, deeper than the Pacific bearing the homebound Lincoln yesterday.
The President, addressing the nation from the deck of that carrier, buoyed the hearts of his countrymen tonight, delivering a speech at once invigorating but clear-eyed, uplifting yet sober -- mindful not to raise expectations unduly, yet evincing that infectious, uncompromising optimism so quintessentially Bush's.
"In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world," thundered the President, adding that "Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment, yet it is you, the members of the United States military, who achieved it."
"Men and women in every culture need liberty like they need food, and water, and air. Everywhere that freedom arrives, humanity rejoices. And everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear."
Small wonder that, for most Americans, this President stands as a beacon of freedom and heroism, embodying America's strengths, her idealism, her confidence, her fighting spirit, her can-do defiance, her unflinching resolve, her unyielding resistance -- an adamant devotion to liberty but iron-willed determination that will never -- EVER-- surrender to evil, however daunting the challenges.
On the "terrible morning [September 11, 2001], 19 evil men, the shock troops of a hateful ideology, gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions," Bush recalls.
"They imagined, in the words of one terrorist," he added, "that September 11th would be the 'beginning of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed they could destroy this Nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed."
Atop the rubble of Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, 3 days after 9/11, Bush vowed defiantly that "the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon."
In Afghanistan, and now in Iraq, Bush delivered on that promise; our enemies -- trounced, thrashed, pounded, defeated -- heard us loud and clear.
On that, tonight, the President left no ambiguity: "We are pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We have begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated."
"The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September 11th, 2001, and still goes on," Bush added.
Two years and three months into Bush's tenure, America stands at the zenith of power, a juggernaut of unchallenged supremacy, the sovereign master of her destiny.
And her leader, George W. Bush, aims to keep it that way.
And he will.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"