Writing in the Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes suggests that the greater length of Bush's second inaugural address compared to his first is proof that the President's agenda has expanded:
It's amazing how much the president has expanded his agenda from his initial days in office. His 2001 inaugural address took 14 minutes. His speech last week was 21 minutes long. In 2001, Bush said, "America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom." In 2005, he upped the ante dramatically. "America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof," he declared at the end of his second inaugural speech. "Renewed in our strength--tested, but not weary--we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom."
Of course, Abraham Lincoln gave the greatest second inaugural address in American history, and it was far shorter than his first even though Lincoln's agenda had expanded just a bit during the Civil War.
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