“This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.”

So what are we to make of this? For nearly seven years, the United States has called upon Europe to join us in combating terrorism and the ideology that drives it. President Bush has made it clear to Europe - - and to the rest of the world - - that we will wage this fight, and win, with or without the help of other nations. This is something which Mr. Obama and his fellow Democrats have pejoratively decried as Bush’s “cowboy diplomacy” and his “go it alone” approach.

But notice the structure of the last sentence: “If we ('we' presumably meaning the U.S. and what was then 'Western Europe') could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.” Who is it, exactly, that “we” - - citizens of the U.S. and modern-day Europe - - are supposed to stand with? The implication is that “the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism” already have some kind of well-developed movement going on, and the rest of us non-Muslims just need to get on board with it.

But where is this “vast majority of Muslims?” Do they have a website? Can I sign-up for their newsletter, or attend a rally? And who speaks for this “vast majority?” Is it President Ahmedinejad of Iran? Or would it be the two hijab scarf-wearing Muslim women who were denied their “rights” to sit on the platform behind Obama’s podium last month in Detroit, and who pitched a fit and eventually coerced an apology from him? Are they the examples of the “vast majority” who reject “extremism?”

Mr. Obama may find camaraderie with this elusive, mystical “vast majority.” But the rest of us Americans must remain vigilant, lest we fall prey to not merely “hate,” but to beheadings and suicide bombings as well.