Video of Bush's speech here:

[Julien Sorel]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/politics/090703-1v.htm


Courtesy of the WP's bandwidth.

A few observations:

It was a fair speech in and of itself, but Bush is simply a shitty speechmaker. I sensed no belief in him, no optimism, and without that, the speech falls flat. Churchill made a speech in which he said 'I have nothing to offer you but blood, sweat, tears, and toil,' and people were willing to follow him because they had no choice -- they understood what the alternative to 'blood, sweat, tears, and toil' was. Here, giving a speech with a similar message, Bush fails, because Iraq, at the end of the day, is not, and never was, a serious threat to our security -- we can walk away and be doing perfectly well, just as we did from Vietnam. Failing to make his case there, the least Bush could have done was sound optimistic about the progress we have a chance to make with the Iraqi people, but he doesn't even offer that, not with any sense of conviction. We are in Iraq because he chose to put us there, and that is all.

Notice, by the way, the almost complete absence of the 'Weapons of Mass destruction' mantra. Trying to shift attention away from that fiasco was part of the purpose behind this speech.


The key shift the speech reveals is that Iraq is now a problem, a huge liability, not the great military and political triumph that Bush and his advisers wanted it to be at the beginning. It's a millstone we want to be rid of. That's huge. They are on the defensive in Iraq. With no economy, and Iraq an acknowledged disaster, what's he going to run on? His great skill with the English language? These guys are in deep trouble.

I think all that adulatory crap that he got from the media over the past few years set him up for a fall, and now the realization that he is still the third-rater he always was is settling in. He lacked confidence in the speech; he seemed shaken. I've seen a couple of his previous speeches, and while they were both awful, he at least had this clueless confidence that gave the speeches some fire. He didn't even have that here. I wonder what his meetings are like these days. They must really be gloomy, which suggests there's some estimates being made by the Pentagon -- previously ignored by the Bush people -- that puts an ugly face on the Iraq situation; otherwise he wouldn't have made such a downbeat speech. We ain't seen the bottom yet, basically, so get ready for more. No more of this 'bring it on' crap, no more of this 'Mission Accomplished' nonsense.

On a complete side note, Iraq looks more and more like a second Vietnam, not in the sense that it will be a military defeat, but because it demonstrates the limits of super power in an age where putting conquered citizenry to the sword is no longer an option. That, along with Bush's vulnerability, is the best thing about this situation. It may be quite some time before someone is so foolish to go off on another such half-cocked adventure. Hopefully that someone will be a lot more competent, and a lot more ethical, than Bush.

[opihimoimoi]

1. There was no mention of the Frogs and Cheese Makers too.

But more important, his credibility was already shot to hell.

And he had himslef boxed in as to what could he say.

Talked himself in a corner did he???

He sure did.

Now what, the Mother of all Quagmires??

[Julien Sorel]

2. Kick

For those who haven't had a chance to see the speech in all it's ineptitude.