WORDS THAT MATTER:

World press electrified by Bush vision (BBC, 1/21/05)

"Hold on to your hats, this may be the most ambitious presidency ever." That's the message from one Israeli paper after President George W Bush's inauguration - a message echoed across the world's press.

For China's press his speech raises the question whether Washington will head further down a "unilateral" path in foreign relations.

One Polish paper heralds the speech as the dawn of a conservative revolution, while in Germany and Turkey there's a bleak forecast for the new Bush era.

Whatever else anyone may think of George Bush, the only other people whose speeches have mattered in recent decades were Martin Luther King, Pope John Paul II, and Ronald Reagan.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2005 1:53 PM