Bush too weak to walk the walk in Middle East

Bush has been big on talk when it comes to democracy, but despite what he says in America, he's been terrified to speak as boldly with American "allies" in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are both holding bloggers in prison so we ought to be hearing something from the man who loves talking about democracy, shouldn't we? Even in Bahrain, the US could not even accept a letter from a human rights activist without extended debate. Even then, Bush went on to praise the local government despite the lack of democratic reforms.

Bush can talk all he wants about democracy but it's obvious to the world that he's a hypocrite who has little interest in democracy. It's the same old Bush that we already know, which is all talk and no action. What leverage does he even have with discussing democracy? He's running a trashed economy that is burdened with debt and addicted to oil. Even Wall Street is in the Middle East begging for cash. It's not as though he can use the US as a shining example of freedom and democracy, now that he's crossed all of the lines and spies on American citizens. Our own human rights record - including in neighboring Iraq - is not much of an example either. Are we ever going to see him walk the walk?