In the 21-minute paean to freedom that was President Bush’s second inaugural address, the domestic portion of the talk included a pledge to “build an ownership society.”

Ownership society is the rationale the president cites when arguing that younger workers should be allowed to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into private investment accounts. His theory: the accounts would produce greater returns than current Social Security policies and give citizens a fuller sense of owning a portion of the American economy.

But interestingly, the president and his top aides have a tightly circumscribed sense of ownership. It does not appear to extend to admitting to – or owning – policy mistakes in the first Bush term.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post took a detailed look at this phenomenon in Thursday's Post under the headline “In 2nd term, no doubt about it; Bush and his Cabinet nominees concede and explain little.”

The story cited two examples. Last week Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the president’s nominee to be Secretary of State, spent two days testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As Milbank noted, “Rice yesterday gave a nod to Democrats' complaints, acknowledging that "bad decisions" were made but declining to cite any.

"We've made a lot of decisions in this period of time," she said. "Some of them have been good. Some of them have not been good. Some of them have been bad decisions, I'm sure. I know enough about history to stand back and to recognize that you judge decisions not at the moment but in how it all adds up."

Asked about briefings she had received on Iraq's weapons program – remember the long looked for, never found weapons of mass destruction – Dr. Rice said, "I'm sorry, I just don't remember." When senators asked her about abuse of prisoners in Iraq, she said, "I'm not going to speak to any specific interrogation techniques."

Lack of ownership was also on display when Alberto R. Gonzales, the President’s nominee for Attorney General, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. As the Post’s Milbank noted, Attorney General designate Gonzales admitted to no recollection of his role in the writing of a controversial memo that narrowly defined what constitutes torture.

In written answers to committee member Edward M. Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts, Gonzales used the words "I am not at liberty to disclose" at least 10 times; "I do not recall" or "I have no recollection" six times; I did not "conduct a search" seven times; "I am not at liberty [to discuss certain matters]" 10 times; and "I have no present knowledge" seven times.

Of course, Republicans have no corner on restrictive definitions and selective memory. Remember President Bill Clinton wondering aloud about the meaning of the word “is” as he denied sexual misconduct?

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Last week’s presidential inauguration had clear martial overtones as 13,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers as well as military troops patrolled our city.

The Monitor’s Washington bureau is just one block from St. John’s Episcopal Church where President Bush worships. So the Monitor staff had a clear view of the massive security apparatus deployed to protect the president, the vice president, and their families as they worshiped on Thursday before heading to the Capitol to be sworn in.

The entrance to the section of 16th Street that contains the church was blocked off by a city bus and by multiple security officers. Both sides of the street were lined with limousines, Secret Service SUV’s, and police motorcycles.  One side of the church was also protected by an empty city bus. 

Of course, there are only so many security vehicles that can be crammed into one city block. So the most massive display of security ever seen in Washington came when President Bush traveled down Pennsylvania Avenue after taking the oath of office. During his trip to the parade reviewing stand outside the White House, the president’s new Cadillac limo was surrounded by a sea of protective vehicles.

The best observation about the scene came from ABC News analyst George Will. The conservative commentator said, “The parade is supposed to be spontaneous, cheerful. This looked like a banana republic, worried about a restive tank regiment at the edge of town. It was unworthy of the occasion.”

Will is right.  The overwhelming security presence was an unintentionally ironic counterpoint to the president's speech hailing freedom. 

Last week was a week of introspection in Washington.

Most notably, George W. Bush danced right up to – but did not cross – the line of admitting he might have actually made a mistake during his first term. Meanwhile, Democrats continued their public soul searching about the best way to woo voters in future presidential elections.

On Thursday, President Bush invited representatives from 14 regional newspapers into the Oval Office for a pre-inaugural interview. David Lightman, a first-class reporter and bureau chief of the Hartford Courant, reported the scene as follows:

“In a first-term press conference, [the president] said he could not remember any mistakes. Thursday, Bush was more reflective.

"I think one of the things I've learned is that sometimes words have consequences you don't intend them to mean. `Bring them on' is a classic example," he said, recalling his challenge in July 2003 to Iraqis who attacked US forces.

"... I was really trying to rally the troops and make it clear to them I fully understood what a great job they were doing. Those words had an unintended consequence. Some interpreted them to be defiance in the face of danger. That certainly wasn't the case."

As usual, Bush was restless, and animated, leaning forward, grinning broadly and thrusting out his hands as he recalled a scolding from first lady Laura Bush when he said he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" in September 2001.

"It was just an expression that came out. I didn't rehearse it. It was just there," Bush recalled. "I wouldn't call it regret, but it is a lesson a president must be mindful of ... the consequences of the words."

It is probably easier to admit to having second thoughts when next week you get to travel up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol and be sworn in for a second term as president.

There will no triumphal parade for the Democrats, however.

On Wednesday, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts offered up his view of what Democrats must do better if they want to reclaim the White House.

“There's no doubt we must do a better job of looking within ourselves and speaking out for the principles we believe in, and for the values that are the foundation of our actions,” the Senator told an audience at the National Press Club. “Americans need to hear more, not less, about those values. We were remiss in not talking more directly about them - about the fundamental ideals that guide our progressive policies.”

Both in his Press Club speech and in a later appearance at a Monitor breakfast, Kennedy stressed that, in response to Senator Kerry’s loss, “we cannot become Republican clones. If we do, we will lose again, and deserve to lose ... the last thing this country needs is two Republican parties.”

Stanley Greenberg, who served as pollster for President Clinton and for the Kerry campaign, echoes Kennedy’s assessment about the importance of improving how Democrats communicate about values.

“Values is at the heart of why we lost,” Mr. Greenberg admits. “It is the success of [Republican] values issues and doubts about Kerry as a social liberal that in the end moved voters away from him, particularly the older blue collar voters .... I think that Democrats have to be more serious about their values - expressive about their values.”

Greenberg and his pollster daughter, Anna, were the guests at a Monitor breakfast on Friday. At the session, Anna was blunt about the pitfalls Democrats face in a renewed focus on values.

“What frustrates me about it is the suggestion that you can just change your language or you can just have a candidate who is more religious and somehow that is going to deal with what are structural differences between the parties on values issues like choice, like gay rights,” she said.

“People who are religious and who care about these issues know there are differences between the parties and changing one’s language about it does not get rid of those big differences,” she cautions.

Still, Ms. Greenberg sees values-related issues where Democrats actually have the upper hand. “There are a lot of places where our values are more mainstream than their values,” she says. Examples she cites include abstinence only education versus comprehensive sex education and access to birth control, stem cell research, and the issue of science and politics.

“There are lots of places where our values are actually in synch with where most Americans are and we have not been, I think, self conscious or bold enough to say hey, this is where we are and we have sort of let [Republicans] define what the values debate should be about.”

You can be sure the Bush definition of the nation's values will figure prominently in the President’s inaugural address this week. In an interview with USA Today's Judy Keen and Richard Benedetto, the president was asked to preview his speech. His reply: "Liberty is powerful, and freedom is peace. And that's about all I'm going to preview,” Mr. Bush said.

What is the leader of the free world to do on a cold, rainy, overcast
Saturday morning?

Go biking at the Secret Service Training Facility in Beltsville,
Maryland was George W. Bush's answer this weekend.

The Monitor is a member of a newspaper cooperative - or pool - that covers the president's travels in and around Washington. So roughly once a month, White House Correspondent Linda Feldmann or I find ourselves typing away in the Monitor's tiny (but free!) White House work space which is located in what once was the presidential swimming pool.

On some days, being in the reporting cooperative offers a reporter a valuable opportunity to observe the president up close and, occasionally, to actually ask the chief executive a question. On other days, reporters traveling with Mr. Bush know the president is around only because the area is flooded with Secret Service agents and bomb sniffing dogs.

This Saturday about all a reporter learned was that no matter the weather, President Bush is devoted to getting his exercise. To that end, at 9:45 a.m. a 14-vehicle motorcade pulled out of the south grounds of the White House.

Just before the convoy of SUV’s began rolling out the back drive of the White House facing the Washington Monument, presidential brother Marvin Bush jumped into the left hand door of the black presidential SUV.

The trip to Beltsville, Maryland - down East Executive Avenue, 17th Street, Interstate 295, and the Washington Baltimore Parkway - took 28 minutes which included stops at some traffic lights. When the president travels around Washington, flags fly on his limousine and the motorcade breezes through traffic lights.

Today, the trip was unofficial. So there were no flags and stops at some – but not all – traffic lights. And the usual unbroken stream of black vehicles was interrupted by a white Chevy Suburban carrying two presidential bikes with blue plastic over their seats.

The ride was punctuated by wailing sirens from the accompanying Park Police escort and occasional swerves to avoid motorists who found themselves breaching the sanctity of a presidential motorcade.

Once through the high metal front gates of the unmarked Beltsville facility, the president and his party headed into the facility's inner recesses. Reporters were shunted into the gatehouse snack room. There was plenty of time to read the Fall 2004 issue of "Tactical Response" magazine and its special report on forced entry while being enticed by the aroma of microwave popcorn.

After roughly 80 minutes of presidential exercise, at 11:35 a.m. the motorcade headed back onto the Baltimore Washington Parkway for the 30-minute ride to the White House. Along 15th Street, surprised tourists waved at the passing entourage.

Outside the Commerce Department, about a block from the heavily fortified back entrance to the White House, the driver of a blue van failed to yield to the approaching motorcade. Suddenly, he found himself cut off by an SUV filled with grim looking, armed men glaring from the open rear window.

The motorcade pulled into the White House complex just after noon. Reporters were held at a distance while the president entered the residence under an awning which kept the press from seeing him. Photographers who frequently attend his bike riding journeys say the president usually wears especially sporty orange colored Nikes on these outings.

While the president eluded us, his venture capitalist brother, Marvin, was seen alighting from SUV One and entering the White House as the presidential bikes were being unloaded.

Word was, the president would spend the rest of the day in the White House. Work on the inaugural reviewing stand continued in the cold drizzle outside the gates.