Bush's Skeptical Audience

President Bush's credibility problem in this country, while serious, is nothing compared to his credibility problem everywhere else.

As Bush delivered a speech to the United Nations yesterday, I couldn't help but wonder: What were those stony-faced world leaders really thinking?

Were they thinking that Bush was lying? That he was deluded? Or that he was sincere?

No one can ignore the president of the United States, but one can certainly argue over whether he's helping or hurting the quest for peace and freedom that he spoke of with such fervor.

Audience reaction at the United Nations is muted by tradition.

Historically, that's been unpleasant for Bush, who prefers obliging crowds that cheer all the applause lines written into his scripts. But yesterday, maybe it was all for the best. Silence is certainly better than a lot of harrumphing.

The Coverage

Maggie Farley and Peter Wallsten write in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush on Tuesday called for Muslims and other residents of the Middle East to reject extremism and empower 'voices of moderation,' offering the latest defense of his 'freedom agenda' that has rankled allies abroad and drawn criticism from Democrats at home. . . .

"Bush addressed a crowd left skeptical by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, launched without U.N. endorsement, and Washington's hard line on Iran. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the assembled diplomats that 'billions and billions' of dollars spent in Iraq could have been used to lessen hunger and poverty around the world.

"U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized Bush's policies for fighting terrorism, particularly his administration's controversial practices of secret detention and transferring prisoners to other countries for interrogation, which the White House refers to as 'extraordinary rendition.'"

Tony Karon writes for Time: "The U.S. media will occasionally challenge facts presented by the White House, but rarely will it challenge the President's basic credibility when he's talking to Americans about a threat to national security. He is, after all, the Commander-in-Chief, and privy to the nation's best intelligence. At the UN General Assembly, however, President Bush's warnings to Iran to 'abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions,' and his cloaking of the invasion of Iraq as part of a march of freedom in the region, are likely to be greeted far more skeptically. . . .

"President Bush's audience at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday cannot help but recall his address to the same forum four years ago, when he made a case for war with Iraq based on a litany of what turned out to be spurious claims concerning active nuclear and chemical weapons programs and ties with al-Qaeda."

Karon writes that even Bush's attempt "to frame his Middle East policy as a campaign for democracy in support of the region's long-suffering citizens" faces wide-ranging skepticism. For instance: "[T]he very Arab moderates on whose behalf President Bush claims to be fighting are often among the strongest critics of his policies, warning that by pursuing democracy through military action, the U.S. may be breeding more extremism than progress."