It isn’t often that I agree with President George W. Bush, but on this one I do–wholeheartedly. And I think he was not only right, but courageous. So let’s give credit where credit is due.
I am speaking of the President’s extraordinary challenge to Arab nations–delivered right on their own doorstep at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, in Egypt–to give their people more freedom, and stop their practice of governance by tyranny.
It was a stern lecture, and to deliver it standing there in front of Arab leaders in the Red Sea beach town of Sharm El-Sheik took bravery. I am so proud that an American President had the forthrightness to say what George Bush told the leaders at that summit:

“Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader in power and the opposition in jail. The time has come for nations across the Middle East to abandon these practices, and treat their people with the dignity and respect they deserve.”
Wow. That’s laying it on the line. “One leader in power and the opposition in jail?” Whew. That’s calling it like it is. No holds barred there. Just the unvarnished truth. Good for you, Mr. President.
But that wasn’t all of it. He also told the leaders of those Arab nations to “move past their old resentments against Israel” and “invest aggressively” in the Palestinian people. This is a very valid point that Mr. Bush has been pressing for years. If the Arab nations surrounding Palestine believe in the Palestinian people and want to raise their standard of living, one of the most powerful ways they can show that is to invest there. Bring in business and industry. Build facilities and invest in public works projects and uplift the people and their economy.
It is also time for Arab nations to indeed move past their resentments regarding Israel and find a path to harmonious living in the Middle East.
The Associated Press reports that President Bush presented Mideast leaders with a long to-do list to achieve more democratic reform in the region: make their economies more diverse, competitive and open to entrepreneurs; enact political reforms that move nations into democratic governments, and not just sham ones; allow freedom of information and rule of law; improve education; ensure greater participation in society for women; and push back against the negative influence of “spoilers” like Iran and Syria.
“There is much to do,” the AP report quoted him as saying. “The future is in your hands — and freedom and peace are within your grasp.”
The AP report said that “Bush rebutted what he said are the many arguments from ‘skeptics about democracy in this part of the world.’ …He said democracy is not ‘a Western value that America seeks to impose on unwilling citizens,’ nor is it incompatible with the religion of Islam.”
The President also “made clear how he defines democracy,” the AP report said.
“Some say any state that holds an election is a democracy,” it quotes Mr. Bush. “True democracy,” he said, requires “vigorous political parties allowed to engage in free and lively debate,” institutions that ensure legitimate elections and accountability for leaders, and an opposition that can campaign “without fear and intimidation.”
Finally–as if they weren’t enough tweaking for one day–the President focused “on the disenfranchisement of women in many Mideast nations. A strong economy can’t be built without the participation of the “formidable force” of females,” the AP report said that Bush told the room.
“This is a matter of morality and of basic math,” The Associated Press quotes him as scolding. “No nation that cuts off half its population from opportunities will be as productive or prosperous as it could be.”
Again, wow. I just want to give the President all the credit that is due him here. This was a remarkable speech delivered under remarkable circumstances in a remarkable way. No person and no political leader is all “bad” or all “wrong,” and President Bush has provided an insight here into why so many Americans have supported him through the years.
I don’t agree with the President’s decisions on the War in Iraq. I don’t agree with his choices regarding the environment, or stem cell research, or how best to help our children get a decent education, or his policies on health care…
…gosh, I don’t agree with him on hardly anything. But I sure do agree with him on that speech in Egypt. Good going, Mr. President. Good going.