Bush's speech sounded like a call to arms, analysts say

"This is what we are fighting for in Iraq, an essentially blissfully boring ceremony," said political strategist Ed Rollins on CBS.

There was praise for Mr Bush's rhetorical flourishes but concern over the content of his inaugural address.

Some commentators wondered whether this signalled an even more aggressive, interventionist US foreign policy.

Concerns about contradictions

Washington Post Associate Editor Robert G Kaiser said in an online chat: "We saw again today, I thought, how good President Bush's speechwriters are. These are wordsmiths of the first rank. It was a lovely speech."

But he asked: "What did it mean?"

"I confess to feeling there's something of a contradiction between his ringing endorsement of freedom everywhere and his administration's dependence on some of the ugliest, least free governments in Asia and the Middle East to prosecute the war on terrorism," he said.

And commentators on CNN noted that Mr Bush's address marked an historical departure for the US, from being a beacon for freedom to being an aggressive, some would say interventionist, agent for the spread of freedom.

CNN commentator David Gergen said of the inaugural address: "This was not a conciliatory George Bush holding out the olive branch to Democrats at home nor to regimes overseas that support terrorism."

He is not simply saying wouldn't this be a great thing if the whole world is free, but that it is a matter of our national safety to spread freedom and democrac Jeff Greenfield CNN commentator

He was surprised by the foreign focus in the first half of the speech and the aggressive restatement of the US commitment to push freedom into other nations.

CNN's Wolf Blizter asked if this was politically dicey for the president.

Yes, said CNN commentator Jeff Greenfield.

"From the birth of the Republic, Americans have believed that freedom is a worldwide good," he said, but added that President Bush is saying something different.

"He is not simply saying wouldn't this be a great thing if the whole world is free, but that it is a matter of our national safety to spread freedom and democracy," he said.

Both Mr Greenfield and Mr Gergen saw this as a sharp departure for the United States.

And Mr Gergen referred to John Quincy Adams, the first son of a president to become president, who said: "But she (the United States) goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy."

"Here is the president saying there are a lot of monsters over there, and unless we slay those monsters, we can't be free at home," Mr Gergen said.

Transatlantic ties

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman watched George Bush's second inauguration from a bistro in Paris and considered transatlantic relations.

He said: "The prevailing mood on the continent (if I may engage in a ridiculously sweeping generalisation!) still seems to be one of shock and awe that Americans actually re-elected this man."

During President Bush's first term, Europeans were likely to say they were anti-Bush, not anti-American, but they might, although unlikely, reconsider that position, he said.

The terrorists love it that you (the French) have decided to cross rhetorical swords with us. You are acting against your own interes Neil Cavuto FoxNews commentator

"There is a vague hope in the air that when Mr. Bush visits Europe next month, he'll come bearing an olive branch that will enable both sides to at least pretend to hold this loveless marriage together for the sake of the kids," he added.

But FoxNews' Neil Cavuto took notice of President Bush's statement of commitment to allies.

"And all the allies of the United States can know: We honour your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help," he quoted the president.

But he also noted that the president also said, "Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies."