Bush's focus will be freedom

WASHINGTON — President Bush will talk about two concepts of freedom in a Thursday inaugural speech expected to last about 17 minutes.

On the international front, aides say, he will discuss the importance and world-changing impact of giving people the freedom to form a government. Domestically, Bush will talk about freedom from government.

As the president sees it, the concepts dovetail.

And, in a CBS interview aired Tuesday, Bush cited "freedom" as the central theme in how he wants history to remember him.

"How about this, that George W. Bush used the great influence of America to spread freedom at home and abroad," he said.

Bush's noon speech on the west side of the Capitol will be longer on theme than specifics, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Next month's State of the Union address, McClellan said, will include "a more detailed blueprint of how to implement the agenda."

The president worked on the speech Monday and Tuesday in the family theater at the White House. The version to be delivered Thursday is the 14th draft of an address that Bush began discussing with aides shortly after the November election. The initial draft hit Bush's desk on Jan. 7.

McClellan said Bush "will talk about the importance of advancing freedom to achieve peace abroad and security at home, and he'll also talk about the importance of extending freedom here in America by building an ownership society."

"The president wants people to have more control over their own lives and have more say over their own lives," McClellan said.

The speech will fit in with the "Celebrating Freedom. Honoring Service" theme of the three days of inaugural events that began Tuesday and end Thursday night with 10 balls.

Bush previewed the theme of freedom on the international front on Tuesday in remarks at an inauguration-related event honoring the armed forces.

"We are blessed to live in hopeful times when the promise of liberty is spreading across the world," he said at Washington's MCI Center. "In the last four years more than 50 million people have joined the ranks of the free.