Does Egypt prove Bush was right?

George W. Bush said we could launch a wave of democratic reform in the Arab world by standing firm against tyranny. Does the uprising in Egypt vindicate him?

Bush's much-debated "freedom agenda" was intended to speed democracy to the Middle East.
(Image credit: Corbis)

Surprisingly, President Obama's handling of the Egypt revolt has not triggered partisan squabbling in Washington. A battle is simmering, however over his predecessor's policies, and the specific question of whether the waves of popular uprisings in the Middle East vindicate President George W. Bush's "freedom agenda." Is Bush's promotion of U.S.-fostered democracy in the region just now bearing fruit, or are Arabs revolting in spite of Bush's Mideast record?

Obama blew it by ditching the Bush Doctrine: The uprisings sweeping across the Mideast "make it clear that Bush had it right," says former Bush adviser Elliott Abrams in The Washington Post, and that "the Obama administration's abandonment" of Bush's push for Arab "self-government" is "nothing short of a tragedy." If Obama hadn't "dismissed Bush's 'freedom agenda' as overly ideological," the wave would have started sooner, and spread wider.

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