Presedential Address:
I'd just like to comment on my happiness with the President's speech last night. It's the first time I remember ever being happy with one of his speeches. Most of my happiness with the speech was due to the humble persona that he presented, which I found greatly contrasting to any other speech I've ever seen him give. Such humbleness caused me to trust what he was saying much more. I for once did not feel like he was lying. He seemed honest, almost even broken, which I believe is a good place from which leaders should make such difficult decisions. I was very sick of the macho-leader persona that he has had up until this point. It made me feel like he was hiding reality in order to convince me that what he had decided about Iraq was correct (this is what I meant by "lying" a couple sentences ago).
Last night he was honest about the dificulty and the pain. I'm much more appreciative of his decisions when he shows that they are difficult decisions, not just "if you vote for the democrats then you're voting for the terrorists," or "you're either for us or against us," or "this is a battle between good and evil, and you either do it our way or your fighting for evil." This is the feeling (and many actual statements) that I've gotten from Bush in the past. I was very happy to see something different last night.
I am, for now, behind him on sending more troops. I just hope it's the right decision for right now. I'm afraid, as I'm sure he is, that it may not be enough troops at this point. From my perspective, this change of strategy is at least a year overdue, but perhaps it will still work.
I think all the Democratic talk about "escalation" is pretty pitiful. It's obvious to me that this is not an escalation, and should not be referred to as such. However, I think the Democrats' actions in Congress, despite the current rhetoric, will be to allow Bush this last chance to get control of the situation in Iraq.
If this doesn't work, then Bush's presidency will be seen as a great failure. If it does work, there may be some salvaging of his reputation for the history books.
I hope it works.
3 comments:
Escalation: to increase in magnitude, intensity, etc.
Yeah, what were they thinking. And the seven confirmed Republicans (with nine more on the fence) with them..
But I think you will really be surprised when you find out that Bush's speech was largely a precursor, using rhetoric, to the expanding of the war into Iran and/or Syria.
I'm amazed that Bush still commands faith despite over and over and over and over again proving dishonest. He actually fired the generals (Abizaid, Casey) who told him that a troop *surge* would not work and brought in the head Air Force (?!?) General who agreed with his plan to be the new guy in charge.
And the man still can't say that the mistakes made were made by HIM much less than actually admitting what they were. You aren't seeing a man who is actually humbled; you are seeing a man with a 30% approval rating who simply can't afford to be as belligerent as in the past. I encourage you to get beyond the snake oil quality of words and look to actions instead. Knowing them by their fruit doesnt' include major policy speeches.
Sorry to take such a hard line.
True enough. It's an ideal - the speech. And we have yet to see what will come of it. But, he engendered some trust from me for the first time. I'm not saying that I think his plan will actually work. If I had to make a guess, I think his presidency will not fare well in the history books. But there is still a sliver of hope, of possibility.
I've never doubted that Bush's intentions are mostly good. I've just seen them as mostly misguided. However, I don't think I'm 100% correct in my assessment. I hold out the possibility that his way could possibly prevail. Perhaps there could be a stable democracy in the Middle East. I certainly don't know enough to know for cerstain if it can possibly be done his wway.
A conservative commentator from Texas has a different reaction to Bush's speech.
As does a Republican Congressman from Texas.
Summary: the hippies were right.
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