Inauguration Address

Bush's speech was a fine thing in many ways but one line jumped out at me. In the course of praising our soldiers, he noted that young Americans are seeing that kind of dedication and idealism and sacrifice for the first time. Then he said what I've italicized below:

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause - in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy ... the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments ... the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives - and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice. All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself - and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.

I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. Am I reading too much into this, or is this a strong rebuke to the mainstream media and the intellectual "elites" that dominate our cultural institutions and universities? Bush is saying... look, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather and your English teacher at college may all be saying that America is bad, America is evil, America is corrupt, America's work in Iraq is a failure, American soldiers' sacrifices are for nought. Do not listen to them. Believe your own eyes. And, most importantly, Be Not Afraid.

All in all, a lovely touch.