I'm getting awfully tired of hearing the same words coming from Bush, over and over again, for months and years on end, and I don't think I'm alone. Bush doesn't seem to think of a speech as a speech - he seems to think of it as a rotating collection of soundbites, one after the other.
There's new news every day, so why does our president always say the same thing? Here are a few of Bush's favorite words, and what they really mean.
Freedom: "Everywhere that freedom stirs," said Bush, "let tyrants fear." What Bush really meant was that everywhere that freedom is accompanied by 100,000 troops and a huge number of jet bombers, let tyrants fear. Bush has great confidence that if the Iraqis just think happy thoughts and learn about how great American freedom is, the insurgency will go away and their country will become the United States of Iraq. It hasn't occurred to Bush that the Iraqis might have some attachment to their own culture. "Freedom" is all well and good, but it is a goal, not a means to an end.
Global War on Terror: Another of Bush's favorite soundbites. The GWOT allows Bush to use broad foreign policy strokes. Its goal is "complete and absolute victory" over the "axis of evil." Who's the axis of evil? Everyone who is evil. Well, who is evil? Why, anyone who opposes US policy. When a couple of policy wonks in the White Administration tried to do away with GWOT in favor of "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism," Bush was quick to veto the effort and make it clear that the US is fighting a capital "W" War. It's a war against a mindset, one we're fighting with bombs.
Victory: According to Bush, victory is achieved when everyone knows that you have been right all along. Bush would say that it means ending the threat of terrorism, but the only way that I can make sense of his actions is to use the first definition.
For everyone to reach the conclusion that you were right, you have to accomplish your goals. Bush is on board with that. He has no intention of leaving Iraq without arriving at an acceptable outcome. That's all well and good, but then there's the second part: People have to believe you wer right all along. For Bush to have been right all along, he can never admit an error. He really hasn't yet; witness the press conference when a reporter asked him what mistakes he'd made in his administration.
"I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it."
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