by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n The standing ovation for the chairman of the interim Iraqi Governing Council, the systematic refutation of all the tired canards \u2014 “unilateralism,” “preemption,” and “hubris” \u2014 praise and admiration for Afghans, the peroration about the historic times we are in and the promise to press on, all this was Trumanesque, delivered in Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address with spirit and without apology. Even Mr. Bush’s sterner maxims \u2014 “They declared war on the United States \u2014 and war is what they got” \u2014 were more majestic than haughty. No apologies, no going back, no regrets, no boasting.<\/p>\n In reaction, the tortured expressions of a Ted Kennedy or Hillary Clinton were testament to the strength of his message, and the accompanying fear that the president’s words could only have a powerful effect in reminding Americans that they should be proud of their sacrifice and idealism as they see the war and its aftermath through. All this was a sad contrast to this week’s senseless furor of Howard Dean, the weird convolutions of Wesley Clark, and the empty platitudes of John Kerry. We are learning that this bunch appears either frantic or puerile precisely because they still don’t grasp that by any historical standard the American military’s record in Afghanistan and Iraq has been phenomenal, and the Sisyphean task of implanting democracy amid autocracy the moral act of our age. All this Mr. Bush articulated more than well \u2014 and rightly so for without him it would all in fact have been impossible.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the last half of the speech did not match the power of the stirring beginning. The details of American pathologies \u2014 from sexually transmitted diseases to the abuse of steroids by athletes \u2014 were better left for other occasions. And some of us are very worried about elements of the president’s domestic agenda \u2014 for example his proposed guest-worker program that by applying a veneer of legality to a vast web of illegality will only make things worse until we deal honestly and systematically with the moral, ethical, and political dimensions of illegal immigration that transcend labor and economics. In addition, tax-cut extensions, war, needed military investment, Middle East reconstruction, space exploration, domestic security, and prescription-drug entitlements\u00a0do not add up, but result in rates of deficit spending that are unsustainable<\/i>.<\/p>\n Yet the president realizes that his singular leadership in this deadly struggle is such that unease elsewhere with his budget and immigration initiatives must remain for most of us just that \u2014 unease. Where the president is great the opposition is pathetic; and where he is on weak ground, they are still weaker \u2014 as evidenced by the collective ankle biting of Dean, Clark, and Kerry and the responses of Nancy Pelosi and Tom Daschle.<\/p>\n After this startling week of contrasts, the election of 2004 is sizing up to be as pivotal to the security and future safety of the United States as that of 1864; and if things stay as they are, most Americans \u2014 and rightly so \u2014 will vote now for their incumbent commander-in-chief as they once did then.<\/p>\n \u00a92004 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Advantage: Commander-in-chief. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online The standing ovation for the chairman of the interim Iraqi Governing Council, the systematic refutation of all the tired canards \u2014 “unilateralism,” “preemption,” and “hubris” \u2014 praise and admiration for Afghans, the peroration about the historic times we are in and the promise to press on, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[806],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1fm","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10046,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-yanks-over-there-100-years-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":4796,"position":0},"title":"The Yanks over There \u2014 100 Years Ago","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review American intervention saved Western Europe in World War I, but the result was a failed armistice. One hundred years ago, on April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. The ongoing conflict ended just 19 months later with an Allied victory. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Diplomacy"","block_context":{"text":"Diplomacy","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/geopolitics\/diplomacy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4336,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-iraqi-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":4796,"position":1},"title":"The Iraqi Wars","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Our 15-year conflict with Iraq. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Iraq is a blur now. Everyone from Norman Schwarzkopf and General Zinni to Tommy Franks and General Abezaid is mixed up in our memories. 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A preemptive strike is a military operation or series of operations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Strategika"","block_context":{"text":"Strategika","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/strategika\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/buyWarBonds.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9277,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/setting-the-record-straight-on-britain-america-and-world-war-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":4796,"position":3},"title":"Setting the Record Straight on Britain, America, and World War II","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online While in London last week, President Obama waded into the upcoming British referendum about whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union. Controversy followed his lecture about the future of the Anglo-American relationship should Britain depart the EU. Obama also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Europe"","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2319,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/war-what-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":4796,"position":4},"title":"War–What War?","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan headed to Martha's Vineyard this week, where President Obama is vacationing. Once again she is protesting our two wars abroad. But Sheehan is a media has-been. ABC's Charlie Gibson used to cover her anti-Bush rallies in Crawford, Texas.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "September 2009"","block_context":{"text":"September 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/september-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12797,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-spartan-way-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":4796,"position":5},"title":"The Spartan way of war","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ The New Criterion Sparta\u2019s check of imperial Athens in the inconclusive so-called First Peloponnesian War (460\u2013445\u00a0B.C.) foreshadowed a remarkable subsequent twenty-eight-year growth in Lacedaemonian power and influence. At the war\u2019s end, Sparta had established itself as the only impediment left to an increasingly Athenian Greece. 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