Opinion: The people divided will never be defeated
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Some quick local reactions to the troop-escalation speech:
The most remarkable characteristic of his grand vision was its utter banality. The one exception to that observation was Bush’s rather ominous saber-rattling toward Iran and Syria. Doesn’t sound like he’s dispatching beefed-up naval combat groups off the Iranian coast in order to open up regional diplomatic talks. I’m absolutely certain that Bush’s deployment of 20,000 more troops and his spending of another $6-7 billion isn’t going to do anything to either shift the war nor move American public opinion any further in his own direction.
President Bush was at his best tonight: serious, detailed, and above all, resolute. He spoke to many audiences.
It took me a couple of minutes to digest this, but there’s nothing even remotely new here at all. Almost to the letter, it’s the same stuff we’ve been trying for the past three years, except with about 10% more troops than before. Does Bush really think the American public is going to find any of this very convincing?
Correction from earlier post: Dick ‘US Troops Are Nazis’ Durbin will give the Democrats’ response, not Keith ‘Allahu Akbar’ Ellison.
At the end of the day, victory in Iraq, for the president, is like pornography -- you can’t really describe it, but, he assures us, we’ll know it when we see it. Or, more accurately, when our children and grandchildren see it. God willing.
[H]e was more comfortable than I’ve seen him before, and void of a sort of insecurity I’ve seen him exhibit in the past. It is this sort of speech, and his general attitude, which reminds me why I care about the presdient and support him--because he’s sincere and truly believes in our responsibility to defend ourselves and spread liberty around the world to that end.