GEORGE W. BUSH SPEAKS – AT 2:52 P.M. ET:  And it's a breath of fresh air.  George Bush left office reviled by the elites and even by the voters.  But his wisdom, often expressed in rough-hewn language, is showing itself.  He was far from a perfect president, but compared to what we have now, well...  From Contentions:

I’m in Dallas, Texas, attending the George W. Bush Institute’s “Conference on Cyber Dissidents: Global Successes and Challenges.” There will be various discussions involving dissidents from five countries rated “not free” by Freedom House: China, Cuba, Iran, Syria, and Russia, as well as two countries rated “partially free” by same: Venezuela and Colombia.

Unfortunately, that is not language used by this White House.

Laura Bush just offered some introductory remarks and singled out the Burmese regime for jailing democrats and enacting a “systematic campaign of rape and abuse.”

President Bush then spoke frankly about the disturbing change in the country’s attitude toward freedom and democracy abroad. “I am concerned about isolationism,” he said. It was a reifying moment to hear the president so closely associated with the promotion of freedom and human rights state plainly that we must “fight off isolationism,” which is making a return in the public consciousness and policy circles.

He was referring to the appeasement Democrats and the Ron Paul "Republicans."

None of the “false choice,” gray-area equivocation that we’ve come to hear day in and day out over the past year. “If we allow isolation to become a dominant philosophy we forget our own past,” he said. America’s long-active role as engine and projector of freedom abroad is indeed being forgotten with news of each cynical “reset” and every panicking ally.

COMMENT:  I wish the former president would speak out more frequently, and make a major speech on foreign policy.  He's very much the gentleman, and wants to give Obama a chance, but there should be limits.

April 20, 2010