Bush At His Best

The Bush West Point speech is perhaps the best characterization of the generational challenge facing America today I've seen from the White House. I've been wondering for a long time, when, or if they would get around to defining the issue of global terrorism the way they do here. Read the whole speech.

You won't be able to rely on the New York Times, the Washington Post, or some pundits to objectively relate what Bush laid out. They can't seem to get past a Bush-centric view that makes everything about personality when they address it and not some greater theme.

Bush was not comparing himself to Harry Truman with his speech. He was referencing a point in history and a previous administration combating an emergent threat on a potentially global scale.

Bush didn't create the threat we face today. It wasn't some Bush doctrine over the last forty years which has gotten us to the point in history we're at now. Islamofascism has many root causes and there's blame enough to spread across those in our past on the Right and the Left. That isn't the point, nor was it the point of Bush's address.

The point is that we as a Nation and a free world must re-assess our thinking and our posture so that we are prepared to fight a battle which must be fought. If Democrats were in power, or come to power soon, make no mistake, Iran or some other subset of world terrorism will acquire nuclear weapons. And then we will indeed find ourselves precisely where we found ourselves in 1949 when the Soviets exploded a nuclear weapon, only worse.

Unfortunately, we would be at a decided and possibly catastrophic disadvantage. Mutually Assured Destruction sufficed to get us through the Cold War with the Soviets because they valued human life, that is to say, at least their own.

In their radical obsession, the same can't be said for the Islamofascists. And they have repeatedly displayed no compunction to refrain from killing great numbers of their own. That's all the more reason to understand and accept as necessary Bush's doctrine of preemption, as we can't simply stop at direct threats.

The thought of a nuclear stand-off with radical Islam is unacceptable. You do not want to find yourself engaged in a deadly game of nuclear chicken with an adversary who has given you every reason to believe that their bizarre fixation on radical religious doctrine convinces them that they actually have something to gain from blowing up the greater part of their, or any world.

The myopic view of some who are so wholly fixated on everything Bush does a tremendous disservice to the National understanding which must be reached.

Read the full speech and don't rely on the press reports, or pundits. Decide for yourself. Personally, I believe it's the road map we have to follow for the next however many years. And no one should vote for a Presidential candidate who doesn't fully understand its prudent necessity.

Comments

[Phoenix]

Nice precis, Dan. It is that simple, isn't it....