Inherent Contradictions

After President's Bush's strong speech last night about the need to win the Iraq war and other matters of vital national concern, Democrats criticized his domestic initiatives on things such as health insurance and alternative energy as too small. Then they proceeded to knock him for the deficit-ridden budget. Choose one or the other, but you can't logically criticize him for both.

Certainly the president should be more fiscally responsible, but every time he tries to cut something from the budget (or simply slow the rate of increase), Democrats howl that he is throwing the poor out on the street. He can't win in the court of Democratic public opinion, no matter what he does.

The president also hailed the slow but sure coming of democracy to Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, saying the yearning for freedom is given by God. I hope he is right and support his efforts to nudge the process along, as the alternative is too dark to think about.

But later in the speech Mr. Bush said America needs to end its "addiction" to oil from volatile areas of the world such as the Middle East. I agree, but if the region is going to be democratic anyway, what do we have to worry about?