Bush @ event raises his voice and pounds podium while defending his foreign policy

sabra

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Wed Jul-30-08 01:52 PM
Original message

Bush @ event raises his voice and pounds podium while defending his foreign policy

Edited on Wed Jul-30-08 02:27 PM by sabra

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/07/ballistic-bush.html

It was billed as a speech about energy -- particularly new kinds of energy, like wind and nuclear. Nice backdrop too -- the Lincoln Electric Co., which makes new welding materials designed to withstand extreme conditions needed for offshore oil exploration.

And the audience was enthusiastic, applauding at all the right moments.

But at the end of the speech, President Bush asked for questions. And when there were none, he launched into what sounded like an impromptu riff about, well, his presidency. Pounding the podium, raising his voice, he defended his foreign policy as a function of the universal instinct for freedom. He recalled a rainbow that came out in the sky when he was speaking in Romania. He lauded the instinct to cure diseases. He sounded nostalgic about his term.

And he sent a not-so-subtle signal that he, like Democrat Barack Obama, could attract a good crowd overseas.

Okay, I'll tell you a story. I was in Bucharest, Romania. There were 200 and -- about 200,000-plus people there in a town square that had come to hear the president of the United States say these words: "An attack on one is an attack on all." That happens to be Article 5 of the NATO treaty. This country had emerged from communism, had been admitted into NATO, and they were anxious to see the president basically say, "We're allies and we'll protect each other from harm."

This is a square that was a pretty dimly lit square because it was raining. But there was one balcony that was lit very brightly, and so I asked the guy walking out there, I said, "What's that balcony?" He said, "That's the balcony where the tyrant (Nicolae) Ceausescu had given his last speech." And he and he wife were awful people. They were true tyrants. And it was lit because people always want to remember the difference between freedom and tyranny, so it's kind of a memorial to that last speech.

President (Ion) Iliescu introduced me, I walk up to the podium -- and a full rainbow appears. I'm talking full-spectrum rainbow. And it was a startling moment, so I turned back to Laura, who was sitting behind me there, and I said, "Look at that." Of course 200,000 heads whip around to look at it too. I was so amazed that my opening comment of the speech -- I ad-libbed -- was, "God is smiling on Bucharest," because the rainbow ended exactly behind the balcony where the tyrant had given his last speech.

Now you can look at that any way you want to look at it. I'll tell you how I looked at it: I looked at it as a sign that freedom is beautiful. That freedom brings peace. That freedom is not ours alone. That freedom is universal.

Noting that "we're in an ideological conflict today between people who use murder as a weapon to impose their ideology versus those of us who believe in human rights and human dignity and the right for anybody to worship any way they see fit.," Bush added, "The way to defeat an ideology of hate is with an ideology of hope. And there's no more hopeful ideology than one that's based upon liberty."

That's when he raised his voice and pounded the podium and sounded nostalgic all at once.

We're a blessed nation because we're a free nation. We're a blessed nation because we're a nation that understands there are responsibilities in this world. So I saw that rainbow, and I said, I'm the fortunate -- most fortunate man to be the president of this fabulous country. And to the best of my ability I will protect us from harm. And the long way to do so is to help others realize the blessings of living under liberty.

edit: for better pic