Mark Steyn on the second presidential debate: It was a face-off without their faces on.

If you want to know the real difference, after 90 minutes of debate it came in the final exchange of the night: “The truth of that matter,” said Bush, “is, if you listen carefully, Saddam would still be in power if he [Kerry] were the President of the United States.”

Kerry replied: “Not necessarily.”

That’s John Kerry: the “not necessarily” candidate. Saddam might not necessarily be in power. He might have been hit by the Number 37 bus while crossing the street at the intersection of Saddam Hussein Boulevard and Saddam Hussein Parkway in downtown Tikrit. He might have put his back out with one of his more vigorous concubines and been forced to hand over to Uday or Qusay. He might have stiffed Chirac in some backdoor deal and been taken out by some anthrax-laced Quality Street planted by an elite French commando unit.

But, on the other hand, not necessarily. That’s the difference: Bush believes America needs to shape events in the world; Kerry doesn’t and, even if he did, because he doesn’t know how he’d want to shape them the events would end up shaping him. There would be lots of discussion. Frenchmen would be involved.