Thursday, April 27, 2006

Sharansky: Bush 'Dissident-in-Chief'

There's a lot going on.

Clemons quotes Sharansky's letter to Preznit Blinky in the WSJOPED:
There are two distinct marks of a dissident. First, dissidents are fired by ideas and stay true to them no matter the consequences. Second, they generally believe that betraying those ideas would constitute the greatest of moral failures. Give up, they say to themselves, and evil will triumph. Stand firm, and they can give hope to others and help change the world.

Political leaders make the rarest of dissidents. In a democracy, a leader's lifeline is the electorate's pulse. Failure to be in tune with public sentiment can cripple any administration and undermine any political agenda. Moreover, democratic leaders, for whom compromise is critical to effective governance, hardly ever see any issue in Manichaean terms. In their world, nearly everything is colored in shades of gray.

That is why President George W. Bush is such an exception. He is a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability. Even the fiercest critics of these ideas would surely admit that Mr. Bush has championed them both before and after his re-election, both when he was riding high in the polls and now that his popularity has plummeted, when criticism has come from longstanding opponents and from erstwhile supporters.

With a dogged determination that any dissident can appreciate, Mr. Bush, faced with overwhelming opposition, stands his ideological ground, motivated in large measure by what appears to be a refusal to countenance moral failure.

George Bush: Freedom Fighter

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

George Bush, all talk no action-same as he ever was.

lukery said...

at least he can do that well.

oh wait...

Track said...

Nothing says one is committed to exporting freedom like Shock and Awe bombing campaigns.

I don't even think David Frum would try to sell this BS.

lukery said...

nothing says 'committed to freedom' like actually committing these bastards