Bent, but Not Broken

Critics of the Bush administration have continued to pass on the canard that the United States had loads of international good will in the aftermath of 9/11 that were ultimately squandered by our allegedly bellicose cowboy President. It is a fine myth. Ann Applebaum correctly remembers that "the initial wave of goodwill hardly outlasted the news cycle."

To paraphrase a source that I have forgotten, there were many around the world who were prepared to show empathy for an America that was bloodied and lying on the ground. Regardless of the rightness or wrongness of Bush's policies, it is important to realize that some despise us, not because we took off in the direction that we did, but because we had the audacity to get up and walk at all.

Hat Tip: Instapundit