The Speech

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to watch President Bush give his inaugural speech yesterday, so I can't comment on his delivery. I did, however go to the white house web site and download a copy of it, link here. There has been a lot said about this speech already, some flattering, some not so flattering.

Most of the negative comments had to do with either how far reaching his goals were ("ending tyranny in our world") or the references to God (see Peggy Noonan's column here).

Let's tackle Peggy's first. I am a big fan of Peggy's as regular readers know, but I disagree with her from time to time. This is one of those times. First off, there were fewer than a half dozen references to God, that's if you include his signing off with "May God bless you and may he watch over the United States of America". In my opinion that is not over doing it for a 21 minute speech delivered by a deeply religious man.

My advice for people who have a hard time with the presidents faith is to get over it. I am so tired of hearing about the separation of church and state, especially when it isn't taken in the context with which it was written. This country was founded by religious men and I have no problem having a president with deep faith. As a matter of fact, it is refreshing after the last inhabitant of the white house.

As for President Bush's high reaching goals, would you rather he lowered the bar and demanded only mediocrity of himself and his administration? I for one would not. We had enough of that during the 90's with President Clinton. I appreciate an administration that reaches for the stars. It shows positive vision and leadership. I look forward to the next four years with President Bush leading the way for all the free countries now, and the new found free countries to come.