"we have a calling from beyond the stars..."

From the President's speech:

...To everything we know there is a season, a time for sadness, a time for struggle, a time for rebuilding. And now we have reached a time for hope. This young century will be liberty's century. By promoting liberty abroad, we will build a safer world. By encouraging liberty at home, we will build a more hopeful America.

Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom. This is the everlasting dream of America. And tonight in this place that dream is renewed. Now we go forward, grateful for our freedom, faithful to our cause and confident in the future of the greatest nation on earth.

I think that gets it exactly right.

I thought when I heard that of some lines by Henry Vaughn that stick in my head:

My soul there is a country, far beyond the stars,
Where stands a winged sentry, all skillful in the wars...

Also, I just encountered an article about Bush's speechwriter, Michael Gerson, and discovered he shares with Charlene and I a love of the Chinese mystery novels of Robert van Gulick!

Posted by John Weidner at September 3, 2004 03:41 PM | TrackBack