A Tough Speech
2010-09-03 - by
When President Obama stared into the cameras Tuesday night he must have felt more than a tremor of foreboding. Nonetheless, he folded his hands in front of him and marched resolutely into the first minefield and announced we’re pulling out (except for 50,000 men) of a war we didn’t win.
There hardly seems any point in arguing about Iraq; President Bush set out to destroy Al-Qaeda and build a western-style democracy in the middle of the Middle East and we struck out on both counts.
The President grinded through that part of his speech, then took a deep breath, and waded into a second minefield, announcing pulling out of Iraq meant he could send more soldiers to Afghanistan where even our most stout-hearted democracy-builders have given up and accepted the hard fact the best we can do is put one of the most seedy dictators on earth in charge of the country.
Plodding ahead stoically without flinching – and without a glimmer of good news to share – Obama finished with Afghanistan, then pirouetted rhetorically and landed in the worst quagmire of all: The Great Recession. With foreclosures soaring and unemployment rising he struggled to temper the bad news which led him straight into articulating his unshakeable faith in government. Building up what for a moment looked like a head of steam he listed all the programs government is launching to cure the ills of the hard-pressed middle class. Government, he said, is going to unleash a wave of innovation. And give our children the education they deserve. And train our workers. And jumpstart our industries. Salvation-by-government is Barack Obama’s faith and creed and he believes it in his bones but he also had some brutal facts working against him: A year after government set out to save us 2.6 million Americans have lost their jobs and another 1.2 million have given up even looking for jobs.
It was a tough speech for a President to have to make. But Obama stuck it out and made it. But the happiest moment for the President Tuesday night must have been when they turned off the cameras and he could lean back and sigh, Well, that over with.
Posted in General, National Democrats
A Tough Speech
2010-09-03/
When President Obama stared into the cameras Tuesday night he must have felt more than a tremor of foreboding. Nonetheless, he folded his hands in front of him and marched resolutely into the first minefield and announced we’re pulling out (except for 50,000 men) of a war we didn’t win.
There hardly seems any point in arguing about Iraq; President Bush set out to destroy Al-Qaeda and build a western-style democracy in the middle of the Middle East and we struck out on both counts.
The President grinded through that part of his speech, then took a deep breath, and waded into a second minefield, announcing pulling out of Iraq meant he could send more soldiers to Afghanistan where even our most stout-hearted democracy-builders have given up and accepted the hard fact the best we can do is put one of the most seedy dictators on earth in charge of the country.
Plodding ahead stoically without flinching – and without a glimmer of good news to share – Obama finished with Afghanistan, then pirouetted rhetorically and landed in the worst quagmire of all: The Great Recession. With foreclosures soaring and unemployment rising he struggled to temper the bad news which led him straight into articulating his unshakeable faith in government. Building up what for a moment looked like a head of steam he listed all the programs government is launching to cure the ills of the hard-pressed middle class. Government, he said, is going to unleash a wave of innovation. And give our children the education they deserve. And train our workers. And jumpstart our industries. Salvation-by-government is Barack Obama’s faith and creed and he believes it in his bones but he also had some brutal facts working against him: A year after government set out to save us 2.6 million Americans have lost their jobs and another 1.2 million have given up even looking for jobs.
It was a tough speech for a President to have to make. But Obama stuck it out and made it. But the happiest moment for the President Tuesday night must have been when they turned off the cameras and he could lean back and sigh, Well, that over with.
Posted in General, National Democrats