In his speech before the United Nation's General Assembly Tuesday, President Bush repeatedly hit the right notes, laying out a global agenda that could do more to unite than divide a polarized world.

The president called on "all civilized nations" to share intelligence and choke off the finances of terrorists. "In the long run," he said, "the best way to defeat extremists is to defeat their dark ideology with a more hopeful vision: the vision of liberty that founded this body." He cut past the crocodile tears over the "occupation" and demanded that the international community support the "moderate leaders" among the Palestinians.

He used his bully pulpit to remind the world about the crisis in Darfur, using the word "genocide" again and urging the UN to live up to its promises and deploy peacekeeping forces to the region.

Finally, Bush addressed the issue that most distresses Jews when it comes to the UN — its obsessive anti-Israel bias. "The United States is committed to a strong and vibrant United Nations, yet the American people are disappointed by the failures of the Human Rights Council," said the president. "This body has been silent on repression by regimes from Havana and Caracas to Pyongyang and Tehran, while focusing its criticism excessively on Israel. To be credible on human rights in the world, the United Nations must first reform its own Human Rights Council."

Turning to themes only coincidentally championed by Jewish groups, President Bush provided a glimpse of the administration that could have been had it shown from the beginning more faith in international cooperation. Unlike the president that sent John Bolton as his ambassador to the United Nations, he showed a sensitivity to the world body, and offered a vision that, if heeded, could return it at least in part to the principles upon which it was founded. He respected the United Nations enough to criticize it, and called the bluff of countries who care less about supporting the Palestinians than denigrating Israel, and regard human rights not as a yardstick to measure global progress but as a cudgel with which to punish the Jews.