President Bush made his case on Iraq to the American people last night. His plain talk came like a well-aimed dart aimed at puncturing the shilly-shallying from the French, the congressional Democrats, and some of the liberal elites in Hollywood and the national press. Answering the questions from reporters at the White House, Mr. Bush at times seemed entirely without guile. “My job is to protect America, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” he said at one point. “I swore to protect and defend the Constitution; that’s what I swore to do. I put my hand on the Bible and took that oath.”

Mentioning September 11 repeatedly, the president said the attack on America changed his strategic thinking. “September 11 should say to the American people that we are now a battlefield,” Mr. Bush said.” We’re not going to wait until he does attack.” He seemed relaxed and confident, at one point ribbing a reporter about his “six-part question.”

In his Texas twang, Mr. Bush made plain to the American people some of the arguments that these columns and others have been making on behalf of the war. To the question of whether the United Nations and other diplomacy should be given more time, he noted, “Diplomacy hasn’t worked. We’ve tried diplomacy for 12 years.” To the question of the war’s costs, he noted, “There is a huge cost when we get attacked,” and then noted that Saddam “may someday decide to lob a weapon of mass destruction on Israel.”

Crucially, he connected the disarmament of Iraq to the question of freedom for the Iraqi people and the fight against all totalitarian regimes. “I believe that when we see totalitarianism, then we must deal with it,” the president said, noting that the solution doesn’t always have to be military.

The coming days will bring the president plenty of choices. He’ll weigh how to handle the proposed U.N. Security Council resolutions, including one floated by Great Britain that would set yet another timetable with deadlines for Iraqi compliance. He may decide when and how to launch a military attack on Iraq, and how to tell the world. But Americans with doubts about the war or about their own security may gain some reassurance from tonight’s simple words from their president, reminding us all that he put his hand on the Bible and swore to protect us.