The President's Speech

Ten minutes too long, and one or two too many mentions of 9/11 and the War on Terror for my taste. Confronted the WMD issue ok, but re-used standard stump language. Excellent job re ordering troops into battle. Kerry commanded five enlisted men. Bush commanded several dozen generals, plus a couple hundred thousand assorted officers and non-coms. Loved the line, "You know where I stand." If he had delivered it with slightly different inflection and a raised eyebrow, it would have brought down the house. Without a doubt, the gloves are off. The debates will be very interesting. He needed to lay out a domestic agenda, and did. Whether we can afford to pay for it is another matter. I do hope that the increased funding for community colleges makes the cut, for purely personal reasons. The President did a very good job of outlining how promoting democracy makes the world safer by decreasing terrorism. We need to keep hammering that point. Of course, the LLL will jump on that as more imperialism - how DARE we have the hubris to spread democracy and freedom around the world. To which the response must be, "So, what parts of democracy and freedom don't you like?" He needed a home run, no question. This speech was inside the park, but he tagged 'em all.