VINDICATION? – AT 10:15 A.M. ET:  Are events in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Jordan vindicating the vision of George W. Bush?  It certainly appears that this is possible, as noted by former Bush official Elliott Abrams in today's Washington Post:

ave seemed exceptions to the laws of politics and human nature. While liberty expanded in many parts of the globe, these nations were left behind, their "freedom deficit" signaling the political underdevelopment that accompanied many other economic and social maladies. In November 2003, President George W. Bush laid out this question:

"Are the peoples of the Middle East somehow beyond the reach of liberty? Are millions of men and women and children condemned by history or culture to live in despotism? Are they alone never to know freedom and never even to have a choice in the matter?"

The massive and violent demonstrations underway in Egypt, the smaller ones in Jordan and Yemen, and the recent revolt in Tunisia that inspired those events, have affirmed that the answer is no and are exploding, once and for all, the myth of Arab exceptionalism. Arab nations, too, yearn to throw off the secret police, to read a newspaper that the Ministry of Information has not censored and to vote in free elections. The Arab world may not be swept with a broad wave of revolts now, but neither will it soon forget this moment.

COMMENT:  For his democratic vision, George Bush was called a fascist, a Zionist tool, an imperialist, and a warmonger.  By contrast, Barack Obama, who never lifted a finger to advance democracy, was welcomed as a breath of fresh air.

The comparison is troubling, not because Bush's vision was so obviously superior to Obama's, but because the advance of democracy is held in such low regard by the elites, the universities, and the media, even in democratic countries.  I suspect that this is because of the corrosive influence of the left, which is exposed once again as indifferent to democracy, or even hostile to it.

January 30, 2011