This is just sad.
The White House was eager to underscore the historic import of the day. It released a copy of a note to Bush from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. The note was passed to Bush by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during Monday’s formal NATO session.
“Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign. Letter was passed from (U.S. administrator Paul) Bremer at 10:26 a.m. Iraq time,” Rice wrote. Using a black felt-tip pen, Bush wrote on the note, “Let Freedom Reign!”
Here’s a nice little pic of the note:
That’s obviously Bush’s hand-written response on the lower left, which I’m sure was completely spontaneous and not orchestrated for media consumption at all.
How can I be so sure? Because, as Tarek at The Liquid List noted, Bush got confused and wrote down the wrong phrase.
It’s probably safe to assume that Bush was referring to the words of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” The problem is that the lyrics say “Let freedom ring,” not “reign.”
The Gadflyer’s Jeff Stanger noted that the error was particularly ironic, considering the source.
I’m willing to let a few verbal goofs slide here and there. But botching a crib from My Country ‘Tis of Thee, one of this country’s most enduring patriotic anthems, is inexcusable, especially from, uh, the President of the My Country, not to mention the leader of the party that as we know is the arbiter of all things patriotic.
Good point.
As it happens, Tarek also noticed that “Let Freedom Reign” happens to be a neo-Nazi album by a band called Hated and Proud.
That’s probably not what Bush was going for.