BUSHCON2.CBS 01/26/05 8:54 AM-DLR   1:13
Eyes straight ahead.  This is DR...
The closer the Iraqi election gets, the worse the news seems to get.  But the President today stood firm in his role as Visionary in Chief.
BUSH:... "The fact that they're voting in itself is successful"
Reporters didn't seem to get it.  They tried to trap him with questions about military casualties, discouraging opinion polls, voter intimidation.  To no avail.
When you have a vision, you look straight ahead:
BUSH:... "I believe this country is best when it heads toward and idea world.  We are at our best and in doing so we're reflecting universal values and universal ideas that honor each man and woman."
Yes, casualties are important.  But when you have a vision, you look beyond them:
BUSH:  "And we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life... but it is the long term objective that is vital and that is to spread freedom, otherwise the Middle East will continue to be a cauldron of resentment and hate; a recruiting ground for those who have this vision of the world that is the exact opposite of ours."
Which means things like deficits have to take a back seat:
BUSH:  "We're witnessing amazing history... and the fundamental question is can we advance that history, and that's what my inauguration speech said:  yes we can."
It's not about making news, but making history.  And it will be up to history to decide who truly had vision, and who was simply wearing blinders.
Now this.
~C:\works\files\BUSHCON2.CBS