Diplomatic Health

An article in the recent National Review written by Jay Nordlinger was a summary of the diplomatic health of the country heading into the new administration. Included were some undated quotes by the current President Bush.
In considering his popularity the President said...

"I'd rather be respected than liked"

Not an uncommon sentiment, though I am not sure mainstream media is capable of any form of respect. I say that for either party, they are en-masse the conductors of a high brow bandwagon.

More telling is what came after....

"You can get short-term popularity in the middle east if you want, by blaming all problems on Israel. That'll make you popular. You can be popular in certain salons of Europe if you say, 'Okay, we'll join the International Criminal Court.' I could have been popular if I'd said, 'Oh, Kyoto is the way to deal with the environmental problem.' That would have made me liked. It would have made me wrong, however. And, ultimately you earn people's respect by articulating a set of principles and standing by them.

and ending with....

"popularity comes and goes. It just does. It comes and goes for an individual or a nation - but principles are enduring."

This is a man that I respect for putting our nation's position before his own popularity. President Bush stood for a number of principles that went against conservative dogma. Namely in the realm of domestic spending and amnesty for Mexican illegal aliens. You have to remember that that was how he ran in 2000 against Gore, the Compassionate Republican. This is a man who said what he was and did what said. A trust in the consistency national policy was sorely missing with President Clinton and we'll see about President Obama. The advisers are the same and they love to court popularity.