President Bush's Speech

Considering that I was flipping back and forth between Pres Bush's speech and the Bears game, I was in no position to comment in any meaningful way. Suffice it to say that it was a very good speech well delivered. Bush looked better than I have ever seen him in the "oval office" format and the content hit all the important points.

California Conservative has an excellent analysis of the speech.....

Sober, Strong, Soaring…

Sober
The first section was a sober assessment of what lies ahead and what has held us back. Phrases like “This election will not mean the end of violence” and “There is more testing and sacrifice before us” certainly paint the picture that much still needs to be done. President Bush’s stating that “It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. And as your president, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq” showed the sober admission of a president who is big enough to admit mistakes, something he hasn’t been willing to show before these last speeches.

Strong
The middle section of the speech was where President Bush made a strong case for his overview of the global war on terrorism and where Iraq fits into that war. Most striking to me was his saying “These terrorists view the world as a giant battlefield, and they seek to attack us wherever they can. This has attracted al Qaeda to Iraq, where they are attempting to frighten and intimidate America into a policy of retreat.The terrorists do not merely object to American actions in Iraq and elsewhere, they object to our deepest values and our way of life. And if we were not fighting them in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Southeast Asia and in other places, the terrorists would not be peaceful citizens, they would be on the offense, and headed our way.”.......rest here