Inauguration Inversion

Mushy: Handsome in Uniform
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: November 7, 2007

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution on Saturday. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "President Musharraf said that he would take off his uniform and that would be an important step"

Today’s column is a Bizarro World inversion of George Walker Bush’s Second Inaugural Address delivered on January 20, 2005.

Dubya’s Inauguration	Dowd’s Inversion
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.	We are led, by recent events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the repression of liberty in other lands.
In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak.	In America’s ideal of freedom, we are ennobled by a heart for the weak. But we must also have a heart for the strongmen.
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.	From now on, it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of tyrannical movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending democracy in our world so liberty can thrive.
We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.	We will persistently clarify the moral choice before every ruler and nation: Choose oppression, which can work, as we see with our Arab allies, or freedom, which — O.K., I admit it this once — we can’t make work in Iraq.
America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.	America’s influence is not unlimited. And unfortunately for the oppressed, Mushy’s open defiance is helping to further undermine America’s influence. But we will use what influence we have left to pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains and that human beings aspire to live at the mercy of bullies.
The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.	The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to mistrust them. Stop your journey of progress and justice, and America will not only walk at your side, we’ll give you billions of dollars and lots of big-ticket stuff, like F-16s — no strings attached.
From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?	Three years ago, I believed that the most important question history would ask us was: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? But now I am older and wiser. I know that the most important question history will ask us is: What’s a little martial law between friends?

Will history judge us by our words or by our actions?