BLAME AMERICA FIRST

Second-guessing Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Bush said Saturday the United States played a role in Europe's painful division after World War II -- a decision that helped cause "one of the greatest wrongs of history" when the Soviet Union imposed its harsh rule across Central and Eastern Europe....

"We will not repeat the mistakes of other generations, appeasing or excusing tyranny, and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability," the president said. "We have learned our lesson; no one's liberty is expendable. In the long run, our security and true stability depend on the freedom of others."

Bush singled out the 1945 Yalta agreement signed by Roosevelt in a speech opening a four-day trip focused on Monday's celebration in Moscow of the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat....

--AP

Will anyone on the right be troubled by this remarkable bit of America-bashing?

I seem to recall that on one occasion when Clinton expressed regret for policies of our past, the conservative reaction wasn't very positive. Here's James Glassman, before the fact:

President Clinton is thinking about issuing an official apology to blacks for slavery. "An apology -- under the right circumstances ... can be quite important," he said Saturday on CNN.

Just one question: Who's supposed to apologize? The Confederacy or the Union? Recall that 136 years ago, the Union, which is to say the U.S. government, went to war, at a cost of 359,528 lives, to end slavery. Now, we're supposed to say we're sorry? Maybe some thanks would be in order....

And here's Mona Charen, after the fact:

Biting his lower lip in trademark fashion, President Clinton told a group of confused Ugandans that "the United States has not always done the right thing by Africa. European-Americans received the benefits of the slave trade, and we were wrong in that." ...

It is the worst kind of moral preening to apologize for slavery. We abolished slavery 133 years ago through a war that took more American lives than any other in our history. If John Brown was correct that the sin of slavery could only be washed clean in blood, it was done. Hundreds of thousands paid the ultimate price for the principle that slavery is wrong. It requires truly transporting arrogance to announce this as though it were a new moral insight....

In the latter half of the last century, we developed a national security state, at a massive cost in dollars (and, in a couple of proxy wars, quite of bit of blood), to bring down the communist bloc over a period of decades. As Mr. Glassman said, now we're supposed to say we're sorry? Maybe some thanks would be in order.

Oh, I forgot -- apologizing for the conduct of the U.S. is OK if you're a Republican.

(As we learned in 2003, when righty Linda Chavez explained to us why Clinton's apology for slavery was evil, but Bush's apology for slavery was good.)