WASHINGTON - President Bush's inaugural address, with its emphasis on spreading democracy and eliminating tyranny throughout the world, was not meant to signal a new direction in U.S. foreign policy nor to portray America as arrogant, his father said Saturday.
"People want to read a lot into it - that this means new aggression or newly assertive military forces," former President Bush said. "That's not what that speech is about. It's about freedom."
In Thursday's speech, Bush said: "We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right."
That raised the question whether Bush intended to apply new standards to allies or partners who keep democracy at arm's length and have poor records on human rights.
"It doesn't mean instant change in every country - that's not what he intended," Bush said about his son's second inaugural address.
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