“Remember when we used to ‘degrade’ our enemies? Now we kill them,” Gloria Borger muses in this month’s U.S. News and World Report. In her essay, “In praise of straight talk,” Borger writes:

We’re into the simple truth, which is not a bad thing — particularly for Bush, who has never been known for his ornate communication skills. Maybe Bush is benefiting once again from low expectations. Or maybe, offers an aide, he’s doing well because he is actually saying what he thinks: What a novel idea. Not only that, adds another aide, ‘What he says in private these days is very often what he says in public.’ More spin? Maybe, but my guess is probably not.

Borger is right. Americans seem really to be responding favorably to Bush’s decisive rhetoric, as well as to the straight talk of Rumsfeld and Rice and, too a lesser extent, Dick Cheney. Call it the rhetoric of “moral clarity.” Or, if you’re less sympathetic, call it the rhetoric of benighted simplicity. Either way, Bush’s approval ratings continue to soar.

As Borger notes, “The politics is crystal clear: We are on the right side of history…The nation is not interested in the politesse or political correctness anymore. It’s done apologizing for its strength or equivocating over its actions. Vietnam is finally over.”

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