George W. Bush has always been his own best advocate, and it’s been encouraging to see him over the past weeks taking his case to the public. Sunday night in a televised address to the nation and yesterday morning in a year-end news conference, Mr. Bush did a fine job of reminding Americans that we are at war with a deadly foe.

It’s not that Mr. Bush is some kind of super-talented spin doctor or silver-tongued orator. But on the key questions in respect of the war in Iraq and the war against Islamic extremist terrorism, he’s got the better of the argument on the substance. When Mr. Bush says, “After the swift fall of Baghdad, we found mass graves filled by a dictator,” it counts for something. When he says that 10 million Iraqis went to the polls and voted last week and that “One Iraqi, after dipping his finger in the purple ink as he cast his ballot, stuck his finger in the air and said: ‘This is a thorn in the eyes of the terrorists,'” it counts for something.

The same can be said of the president’s response to the leftist obsession with the “domestic spying” story, which is really not a story about “domestic” spying but about listening in on phone calls and e-mails that go between America and foreign countries. The president defended his actions under congressional resolutions authorizing the use of force after the attack of September 11, 2001. But the part of what he said yesterday that we most admired was his assertion that he had the authority to do this under Article II of the Constitution. It is hard to remember a more pointed example of an American president going for bedrock.

Mr. Bush has the better of this argument, at least so far. Yesterday, he said, “I authorized the interception of international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations….This program has targeted those with known links to al Qaeda.” It was noteworthy that no one at the press conference asked why, if America has identified people with known links to al Qaeda, it was merely intercepting their phone calls instead of killing them or indicting them or capturing them, locking them up in Guantanamo, and interrogating them.

Most everyone agrees that Mr. Bush has the right to order a missile strike on an al Qaeda figure without checking with some judge set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; it’s an odd moral calculus indeed that gives the president the right to kill an enemy without checking with a judge, but not to listen to the same enemy’s phone calls. Charles Krauthammer has made a similar argument with respect to torture; how is it that it is permissible to kill a terrorist but not to twist the terrorist’s arm to get him to talk while he is alive and in American custody?

If we have a criticism of Mr. Bush’s leadership in the war on terror – and overall it has been inspiring – it is that he has been not moved aggressively enough against the terrorists and for freedom in redoubts such as Iran, Syria, Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. He could easily ask more of ordinary Americans by way of a contribution to the war effort than merely “patience.” Even so, the results are remarkable. Freedom House yesterday released its annual survey of freedom and found that “The number of electoral democracies increased by three, from 119 to 122. This represents 64 percent of the world’s countries – the highest number in the survey’s 33-year history.” The survey found improvement in Lebanon, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, among others.

One the domestic front, Mr. Bush yesterday touted progress on the economy and class action lawsuit reform and mentioned the confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice of the United States. He also spoke of work yet undone – on tort reform, tax relief, immigration reform, health insurance, and the confirmation of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. To that we would add private accounts as part of Social Security.

Mr. Bush’s legacy may be what he spoke of eloquently in an off-the-cuff response to a question yesterday – an answer that the president seemed to give from his core and that may yet vault him into the ranks of our greatest presidents. “What you’re seeing now is an historic moment, because I believe democracies will spread,” Mr. Bush said. “I believe when people get the taste for freedom or see a neighbor with a taste for freedom, they will demand the same thing, because I believe in the universality of freedom. I believe everybody has the desire to be free. I recognize some don’t believe that, which basically condemns some to tyranny. I strongly believe that deep in everybody’s soul is the desire to live in liberty, and if given a chance, they will choose that path.”