MartiniPundit

Thoughts on the Second Inaugural of President Bush

President Bush is only the 16th president to win a second term in office, and given his father is not among them, today must be of special significance for him. If he completes the term (and God willing it will be so), he will join an even smaller circle of presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton - eleven in all - who have been reelected after their first term and completed the second. All of these men left an indelible mark on the nation. It is often said that second terms (after the 22nd Amendment) are punctuated by slow decline, but even the three presidents who’ve fallen under its requirements still made an enormous impact. Perhaps it’s merely the amount of time - nearly a decade - that causes them to permeate the national scene in ways denied to one term presidents, but it’s also the ability to pursue an agenda for that period of time as well. (Grover Cleveland might also count in this group, but he lost his reelection bid after his first term. I’m also oversimplifying in that Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Truman, and Nixon left considerable legacies for better or for worse.)

President Bush has laid out the themes for his second term and his legacy very simply in his second inaugural speech: freedom, liberty, the end of tyranny. In an address lasting just over twenty minutes, he spent the first 10 or so on the subject of freedom, the next 5 on a ‘good neighbor’ at home and the responsibilities of freedom (social security got a passing mention as “retirement savings”) and the last 5 on liberty. The speech itself was simple and straightforward without rhetorical excess - it was not Cicero - and it threw down a gauntlet cannot be doubted.

Meanwhile, Mike Newdow must be chewing nails as the references to God were quite abundant even calling him the “author of liberty.” Additional references to the ideals of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Koran no doubt rankled as well. Freedom gnaws at the soul of us all, and the President dares to dream that one day it will light the darkest corners of the world.

But from the moment Bush referred to the “day of fire” it was clear that this was to be a shot aimed across the bows of tyrants. “The survival of liberty in our land depends on the success of liberty in other lands.” The mad mullahs in Iran, Gumby in North Korea, the tyrants in Riyadh, Damascus, Havana and elsewhere, must now know they’ve got a tough four years - assuming they survive them which many of them also know they will not.

Bush declared that we will oppose tyranny, support democratic movements, and defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms if need be.  I think we can also assume that defense will sometimes be interpreted to include a good offense. For all the talk in the last few weeks of social security, taxes, and judges the clear theme for the second Bush term is freedom is on the advance.

Lincoln - whose second term was cut tragically short - is the only person quoted by name in the speech and his legacy is the abolition of slavery in the United States. Bush is aligning himself with that achievement and calls for the end of tyranny in our world. Ambitious to be sure, but never has the prospect for success been brighter. Now that will be a legacy.

Update

Text of the speech here.

Update II

Joe Gandelman is rounding up other views.

1. Well reasoned post. Keep it up.

   Posted by Sam  on  01/20  at  06:49 PM

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