President Bush yesterday characterized his Inauguration Day goal of "ending tyranny in our world" as a long-term ideal rather than a new policy redefining U.S. relations with repressive governments, as he ratcheted back expectations of a more muscular approach to spreading freedom abroad.
While saying he had "firmly planted the flag of liberty" in Iraq, Bush offered no tangible plans for how he would plant it in other countries, suggesting instead that the stirring words of last week's inaugural address were meant as a statement of principles recapitulating his first-term practices.
"My inaugural address reflected the policies of the last four years," Bush told reporters at the first news conference of his second term. Asked if the speech that termed advancing democracy "the calling of our time" reflected a policy shift, he said: "No. As I said, it reflects the policy of the past, but it sets a bold new goal for the future. And I believe this country is best when it heads toward an ideal world."
The president's hastily called appearance in the White House briefing room came on the deadliest day yet for U.S. troops in the war in Iraq and just four days before Iraqis are scheduled to go to the polls to elect a new National Assembly. With Iraq serving as a volatile test case for his vision of embedding democracy in historically hostile parts of the world, Bush urged Iraqis to go to the polls Sunday and "defy these terrorists" who are "afraid of a free society."
Looking ahead to his State of the Union address next Wednesday, Bush said he will present specific ideas for restructuring Social Security and then barnstorm through four or five states to sell his plan, but he also signaled openness to negotiating with key congressional Republicans who have been skeptical. Bush repeated his vow to cut the federal deficit in half in five years despite heavy new spending on Iraq and said he has ordered Cabinet departments not to pay media commentators to promote administration policies.
But it was Iraq and the president's vision to promote democracy that dominated the 47-minute session. Bush appeared in a confident, relaxed mood, notably more upbeat on Iraq than he seemed at his news conference in December, when he acknowledged that anti-American insurgents were "having an effect" and complained that U.S.-trained Iraqi troops had sometimes "left the battlefield" rather than fight. By contrast, yesterday he praised "some really fine units" among the Iraqis and called the election "a grand moment in Iraqi history."
As he often does, Bush seemed reluctant to discuss the latest setback. Asked about yesterday's helicopter crash that killed 31 U.S. troops, he initially offered a terse reply. "Obviously, any time we lose life it is a sad moment," he said.
Bush returned to the subject on his own a few minutes later: "Listen, the story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that. We value life. And we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life. But it is the long-term objective that is vital, and that is to spread freedom. Otherwise, the Middle East will continue to be a cauldron of resentment and hate."
Bush brushed off questions about the perceived legitimacy of the election if large numbers of the country's minority Sunni Muslims boycott the balloting. "We're witnessing amazing history," he added. "And the fundamental question is: Can we advance that history? And that's what my inauguration speech said. It said, yes, we can. I firmly planted the flag of liberty for all to see that the United States of America hears their concerns and believes in their aspirations." At that point, the president with his right hand figuratively planted a flag in the briefing room's lectern.
Bush's interpretation of his inaugural speech constituted the latest attempt by the White House to shape understanding of what he meant. In the address, Bush declared it "the policy of the United States" to promote democracy and vowed to "persistently" challenge "every ruler and every nation" about how they treat their own people and make such issues a condition for good relations. After many construed that as a radical break from decades of U.S. foreign policy, the White House tried the next day to play down the practical meaning, depicting the speech as the recapitulation of four years of work to bring democracy to Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestinian territories.
"Obviously, we're discussing a process," Bush said yesterday. "As I said in my speech, not every nation is going to immediately adopt America's vision of democracy, and I fully understand that. But we expect nations to adopt the values inherent in a democracy, which is human rights and human dignity, that every person matters and every person ought to have a voice." He called the effort a "work in progress," adding, "There won't be instant democracy."
Bush said he already had pressed China and Russia to respect human rights and would continue to do so even as he worked with them on issues of mutual interest, such as persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program. Bush will meet next month with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has rolled back post-Soviet democratic institutions. "I will remind him that if he intends to continue to look West, we in the West believe in Western values," Bush said.
In the case of another longtime U.S. ally without a democratic system, Bush was asked about the reported arrest of a man in Jordan who delivered an anti-American lecture. The president said he did not know about the case, but praised Jordan's King Abdullah as "a strong advocate of the advance of freedom and democracy."
The focus on freedom represents a contrast to Bush's 2000 campaign, when Condoleezza Rice, then his adviser and now his secretary of state, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs magazine defining a Bush foreign policy as concentrated on security issues, free-trade pacts and confronting rogue states, not democracy-building around the world. Asked about the article, the signature foreign policy statement for his campaign, Bush said yesterday that he never reviewed it. "I haven't seen the article, I didn't read the article."
