The Black Republican

As the President began his second innagural address today, I told Steve that I thought perhaps he might go so far to make a pledge similar to that made by John F. Kennedy in 1961. Kennedy promised, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Almost six years and two presidents after his death, America made good on Jack Kennedy's promise, with just five months to spare.

I envisioned that George Bush would make the commitment, "We shall ensure to all the people of the earth the right to a democratic government by the end of this century."

He came close to making that very pledge the policy of the government.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world....

Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens:

From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

Ironic on several levels, the sweeping majesty of the speech is harshly criticized this morning by fellow Republican and speechwriter Peggy Noonan, who seemed to have sat near someone with similar instincts to my own.

George W. Bush's second inaugural will no doubt prove historic because it carried a punch, asserting an agenda so sweeping that an observer quipped that by the end he would not have been surprised if the president had announced we were going to colonize Mars.

Similar comments could be heard on Fox News last night, where it was noted several times that the President was "swinging for the fences."

Noonan, however, thought the President and his speeachwriter were swinging too hard.

Ending tyranny in the world? Well that's an ambition, and if you're going to have an ambition it might as well be a big one. But this declaration, which is not wrong by any means, seemed to me to land somewhere between dreamy and disturbing. Tyranny is a very bad thing and quite wicked, but one doesn't expect we're going to eradicate it any time soon. Again, this is not heaven, it's earth.

I tend to agree with Fred Barnes, who spoke on Special Report's roundtable. "No one said it had to happen in the President's term." It certainly didn't in Kennedy's case, and I believe Bush is thinking much more long-term than some people are.