Inauguration Day 2005

President Bush’s second inaugural speech clearly places him in the neoconservative intellectual camp.

Even as war clouds gathered over Iraq, I gave him the benefit of the doubt about the policy of military preemption and laid the blame (that is my loaded word for it) for the policy on such people as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearl, the Kristols, and other neocons. I was wrong.

Clearly, Mr. Bush stepped front and center and declared himself a neocon rather than a member of the realist camp that virtually all previous presidents, but especially Republicans, have espoused since the Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

In his speech the president threw down the gauntlet to Americans, its allies and its opponents and enemies that we would be on the side of activists for democracy and freedom. The clear inference must be drawn that China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, North Korea, Iran and dozens of other nations that are not democracies are on notice that their relations with the U.S. will no longer be the same as they have been in recent decades.

What this means for major trading partners such as China and Saudi Arabia has yet to be defined, but his speech was a clear message of, “in your face,” to these and other nations not classified as democracies. We shall see.

There will be no blaming of others for Iraq. If it turns out well, George W. Bush will be exonerated by time. A bad outcome will consign his presidency to the dustbin of history. His ability to define success and stay on message is as great or greater than any of his predecessors, so we may have to wait for some time after he leaves office to find the answer.

I look forward to learning the outcome of this ambitious program and wish my readers the same good fortune in determining the result. On this day I step away from my anger and hope for the sake of the nation that the president is right.

Blog on!

Wild Bill