Bush delivers podium-pounding stemwinder on legacy

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.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Tony Dejak/AP

Comments

[Edward P. Pita]

There is a lot of criticism directed towards President Bush. However, we should just remember that since 9/11 there has not been one single attack in U.S. soil and we have lived in peace. I wonder how we would be if he had not taken the reins and made sure we were not attacked again. Would we have liked our shpping malls, schools or other sites of mass attendance to have been visited by "self-made" assassins like in the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. It seems that we owe a lot to his good guidance. Next year when we have another president we will of course, criticize him too but we should remember the good things our Presidents do, and President Bush has kept peace in our homes! E. Pita

[tomsm]

Is there a factual basis for the claim that 200,000 Romanians out came to view Bush speak or is one of the "WMD"-like fairy tales that he and his henchmen propagate? Were the Romanian villagers all carrying torches?

[Robert Laughing]

Yes, we too will be FREE from the Tyranny of Bush come January 2009; like the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, America will no longer be the chump that sends it's loved ones off to fight in foreign misadventures, so some political misfit can prove 'he's a better war president, than his daddy.' great job, bushie...America is in ruins financially, and it's infrastructure rots, while hundreds of billions of working people's tax dollars, line some foreign political pusstule's Swiss bank account.

[Richard D. Burns]

Ugh...it was bad enough having Bush in Cleveland, where Lincoln Electric is based. I moved here from LA 3 years ago. While I like it here, let Ohio be a cautionary tale of what 12 years of uncontested GOP rule can do, as the GOP ruled Ohio uncontested from 1994-2006. Ohio wishes it had the problems California does.

[Robert Laughing]

Pita: At what COST has bush protected us? Destroying the Constitution, ignoring the Bill of Rights, thousands of dead American troops/tens of thousands maimed, hundreds of billions of tax dollars squandered , or lining a few corporate war profiteers' CEOs pockets, an 'approval' rating of 27% (always a percentage of either toady boot lickers, or war profiteers who are grateful)...the list is so danged l-o-n-g, the LA Times would never agreed to my listing of bushes crimes. And you kiss...well, we KNOW where you're coming from Pita...gawd, do they let you vote? No wonder many people wanted prospective voters to pass an IQ test before entering a voting station. And lastly, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are still with us cuz bushie isn't really 'after' him...a pact with the Saudi Royal Family, or afraid he'll be a martyr?

[Jeremy]

200,000+ people?!?! I was at that square (Revolution Square) when you gave that NATO speech in Bucharest. It was in the local news for weeks after how a large majority of the people in attendance were bused in from the countryside just to make the square look full. (Not unlike that tyrant, Ceausescu, did for his public speeches.)

The event was so incredibly staged for the cameras it wasn't even funny. The volunteers did as best they could to pick up tossed flags from the ground to give back to people to wave, but no sooner than the volunteer walk away was the flag back in a puddle on the ground. The only people waving flags were the volunteers close to the stage.

Sure there may have been 200,000+ people out that day, but likely closer to a few thousand (at best) who was there to support you.

Oh, & Edward Pita, your argument is full of holes considering America has only been attacked twice in history on its own soil. Hmmm... both times a Republican was President... should I assume then that if we get a Democrat in office...

[Bob Jones]

It will take the rest of our lifetime to restore the freedoms President Bush has take from us. My children will be paying for his policies well into their own lifetime. His legacy is his place as our nation's worst president ever.

[Doug Woods]

Pounding the podium! Raising his voice! What a pathetic and petulant loser this guy's turned out to be. And spouting his usual platitudes till the bitter end, with the rainbow reference especially sad (he probably believes God made the rainbow just for him). This guy knows his presidency already is, and will be forever, rated as a dismal failure and perhaps America's "worst ever." 01/20/09 is when our latest "national nightmare" ends...

[Sal B]

@E. Pita
"...we should just remember that since 9/11 there has not been one single attack in U.S. soil and we have lived in peace."

That's the same as, if you keep saying, "May this house be safe from tigers," and no tigers come [because they're somewhere else, not near you], then the saying of it becomes the reason.

The terrorists haven't attacked again because any sane country puts in rules and regulations if there's a danger. Do you seriously believe if someone else [Al Gore] had been president, he wouldn't have put in place similar rules and regulations??? You're not thinking straight, but I never expect anyone who supports Bush to be able to think straight. You believe in fairy tales.

[ABE]

How interesting that the same George W. Bush (et al. Repuglicrites) long
blasted President Clinton and Democrats for honoring Article V of the
NATO Charter while intervening in Bosnia for humanitarian purposes,
yet now invokes it for himself during a self-serving, self-aggrandizing
moment of "freedom-mongering" before another typical pre-selected,
robotic, cheery, private audience?!?

[rkidd]

How did we ever elect this clown to the highest office in our nation?

[Almost Angeleno]

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

The only difference is that the crowd for Bush are there to protest his presence.

[Montag]

Mr. Pita correctly observes: "There is a lot of criticism directed towards President Bush. However, we should just remember that since 9/11 there has not been one single attack in U.S. soil and we have lived in peace..."

I also correctly observe that before 9/11 there had not been one single attack on U.S. soil.

[plankbob]

Mr. Pita is wrong when he says "However, we should just remember that since 9/11 there has not been one single attack in U.S. soil ..."
He forgets the anthrax attacks, from someone inside the U.S. Letters were mailed to Democrats right before the vote to approve the pathetic PATRIOT Act, a bill many in Congress were too busy to read before they voted. The attacks killed five people and infected 17 others. Never solved.
How about the deadly attack two days ago by an enraged conservative at a liberal church? Is that terrorism, inspired by Hannity and O'Reilly?
How about the attack on fiscal responsibility by invading and occupying a country that had nothing to do with 9/11? The cost is $12 billion a month and 4 million Iraqis have been displaced.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/frameup.html

Legacy, my arse.

[Arlingtonian]

It's so easy to call President Bush a clown. It's been part of the Democrat mantra since 2000, like the Florida vote, which Gore would still have lost. Remember, President Bush was the first president to get an MBA. We have not been attacked here since 9/11 and Congress was privy to the same information on Hussein and Iraq that he was. They don't want us to remember it, but they came to the same conclusion in 2003. Give it a rest already!

[rolen]

There is no point in going on about the Bush legacy. Simply stated it is He screwed up everything. I would change the second word, but, this is a family newspaper.

[Larry]

Pound your podium all you want! It doesn't change the fact that this is worst US President in modern history. Anyone who hires this failure "as he replenishes his coffers" for speeches, etc should be called out as an enabler for failure and crony capitalism.

[Stephen]

We have been attacked multiple times since 9/11. We've had thousands of Americans killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other countries due to his policies. 2 hostile countries have developed nuclear arsenals on his watch. He gave a de facto presidential pardon to bin laden. We've had surges of domestic terrorism in our malls & schools, including the recent attack on the church in Knoxville by a conservative extremist. How can anyone say that Bush has made us safer? An entire city was destroyed and then abandoned by him. Our jobs have disappeared, our currency has tumbled, rampant inflation, we're losing our homes, and we can't afford to fuel our cars. Legacy?

[Robert Laughing]

Arlingtonian: bush got an MBA? well, yeah, and a law degree, because his GRANDFATHER (Prescott) and FATHER gave money to their Alma Maters; both schools NEED TO JUSTIFY how bush could have actually EARNED these, without INFLUENTIAL ASSISTANCE.

[russell]

The fool thinks that the clouds part for him. He & Laura are just one lamp pole away from joining the Ceausescus.

[mv in va]

Arlingtonian: do you mean "Democratic mantra"? That would be more appropriate usage.

[Bucharester]

Oh no he still remembers that?! Such good memory; that was 6years ago!
How come he was talking about energy and he happened to recall - rainbow, freedom, God, Chawsheskoo, Bucharest... I'd like my country to remain obscure, and its capital to be confused with Budapesht. Thenk'ya Dubb'ya!