THOSE WHO VIEW George W. Bush as a perpetually tongue-tied bumbler might take note of his landmark speech last week in Kyoto, where he eloquently outlined a vision for economic liberalization and democratization throughout East Asia–and which, at its most provocative moment, embraced Taiwan as a model for mainland China.

Bush mentioned the word “freedom” no fewer than 56 times. He used some variation of the word “democracy” no less than 21 times. And though he is occasionally given to grandiose language–about, say, “ending tyranny in our world”–Bush tempered his rhetoric with a heavy dose of realism.