Rarely has the phrase "preaching to the choir" been epitomized more than Thursday morning at the Salt Palace.

At the podium stood George W. Bush, president and commander in chief, and filling the massive ballroom in front of him sat the American Legion.

These are people who joined the military and then, for an encore, came home and joined the Legion. They wear caps that say "commander" on them. Their favorite song is anything by John Philip Sousa. They know where Guadalcanal is. For them, it's always 1700 somewhere.

The current resident of the White House could not have hand-picked a friendlier house.

He had them at "Fellow Legionnaires...."

The crowd gave the president its full attention as he took the opportunity as keynote speaker at the Legion's national convention to outline his strategy for the war on terror by couching it within the broader ideological context of liberty for all.

They roared their approval when Bush identified radical Islamic terrorists as "successors to fascists, Nazis and communists" and stated that the current conflict in Iraq will prove to be "the decisive ideological battle of the 21st Century."

They really roared their approval when he declared "together we will defeat the enemies of a free Iraq" and "from Damascus to Tehran they will (one day) look at Iraq as a model of freedom."

For 35 minutes inside the Salt Palace, it all seemed so simple as the ultimate freedom missionary spread his vision about a world where "every person has the right to determine his or her own destiny."

Say what you want about George W. Bush and the odds of him actually pulling off what he's trying to pull off. Say that he's been given bad intelligence and picked bad battles. Say that he's fighting an invisible enemy.

But don't say he isn't fighting for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And especially don't say it in front of the American Legion.

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Afterward, as the thousands in the audience were kept locked inside until the president had left the building, Mike Miskell, a Legionnaire from Pennsylvania, reflected the post-speech mood.

"Well, what did you think of the speech?" I asked Mike.

"I thought it was wonderful," he answered. "He hit on all the points I believe in. I feel what's happening now is comparable to World War II. Who'd have thought back then that the empires of Hirohito and Hitler would one day turn into bastions of democracy?

"In the future, Afghanistan and Iraq will be similar beacons of light and hope."

Miskell voluntarily added that he's thoroughly enjoyed himself at the Legion's convention in Salt Lake City.

"I like the way you place the mountains here, right behind the city," he said. "Very pretty."

He also added that he was on his way to a meeting where he would be installed as the American Legion's incoming national historian — a one-year post.

"If all goes well, it should happen in about two hours," he said.

I have a pretty good idea what his first entry will be, and how it will read.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.