'Carefully Nuanced'

Washington Post :

White House officials said yesterday that President Bush's soaring inaugural address, in which he declared the goal of ending tyranny around the world, represents no significant shift in U.S. foreign policy but instead was meant as a crystallization and clarification of policies he is pursuing in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and elsewhere.

Nor, they say, will it lead to any quick shift in strategy for dealing with countries such as Russia, China, Egypt and Pakistan, allies in the fight against terrorism whose records on human rights and democracy fall well short of the values Bush said would become the basis of relations with all countries.

In his inaugural address Thursday at the Capitol, President Bush promised his second-term goal would be to spread freedom and democracy and end "tyranny in the world." Some saw his words as changing U.S. foreign policy.

Bush advisers said the speech was the rhetorical institutionalization of the Bush doctrine and reflected the president's deepest convictions about the purposes behind his foreign policies. But they said it was carefully written not to tie him to an inflexible or unrealistic application of his goal of ending tyranny.

... White House officials argued that some observers have read more into the speech than is there. "The speech was carefully and purposely nuanced," said presidential speechwriter and policy adviser Michael J. Gerson. "We are dealing with a generational struggle. It's not the work of a year or two."

When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you, only we'll stand way over here, not in front of the tanks. We'll wave so you can see us from there, OK? Democratic reformers facing repression, prison or exile, America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country. The future leaders of our country will deal with you then. And hey, good luck with that prison thing. Martha says it's a real drag.

"Carefully nuanced" - Just because we talk a good game, don't actually think we're going to do anything.

A "senior administration official"

said that Saudi Arabia is taking steps toward municipal elections and is having a "national dialogue" on reform, while Egypt last year held a conference that resulted in a declaration on political reform. "It's a step," he said.

A "national dialogue" and a "conference that resulted in a declaration". Sounds like "the rhetorical institutionalization of the Bush doctrine" to me.