Inauguration

Juan Cole has a pictorial commentary on Bush's inaugural speech. I had some of the same thoughts. He focused so much on freedom, but his actions over the past four years reveals a limited view of freedom.

Surprisingly, Cole does not deal with the part of the speech that was most troubling to me. Bush declares that the US would stand by those who want to expand freedom and democracy throughout the world. What does that mean for our approach to China and Taiwan? How do we react when Turkey, a democracy, wants to deny US troops access to Iraq through Turkish territory? Why shouldn't the people of the middle east conclude that the US is hypocritical and untrustworthy when they see our relationship with the governments of Saudi Arabia or Egypt? Do we really want a democracy in those countries if a democratic government would be anti-US, at least in the short-term? If a democractic government was established in Saudi Arabia, we would likely see a return to an 1970's style oil crisis. Would we be willing to make that kind of sacrifice?

Again, there is no talk of sacrifice in Bush's speech. What kind of moral values ignores sacrifices?