The Vision Thing

Whoah! What's this? A favorable article about the president in the New York Times?

It's true.

The Times has to admit that our president has a vision, and not even the Times can find any real fault with it.

Mr. Bush talks about "the transformational power of liberty'' in the same tones he sometimes talks about the power of religion to transform the soul. He often links the two, repeating a line that "freedom is not America's gift to the world, freedom is the almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world.''

And sometimes he truly warms to the subject, as he did on Monday in Marlton, N.J.

"After decades of tyranny in the broader Middle East, progress toward freedom will not come easily,'' Mr. Bush said. "Yet, that progress is coming faster than many would have said possible. Across a troubled region, we are seeing a movement toward elections, greater rights for women, and open discussion of peaceful reform. The election in Afghanistan less than two weeks ago was a landmark event in the history of liberty. That election was a tremendous defeat for the terrorists.''

And then, for good measure, he turned the knife a bit as he talked about Mr. Kerry's alternative vision.

"My opponent has complained that we are trying to 'impose' democracy on people in that region,'' he said, as the crowd booed. "Is that what he sees in Afghanistan, unwilling people have democracy forced upon them?''

The Times raises the possibility that Iraq and/or Afghanistan could vote in Islamofascists, but who really believes that free people would vote themselves into tyranny?