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The Spectacle Blog
President Obama’s speech in Afghanistan yesterday was terrific: An eloquent statement of both the reasoning behind US policy in the AfPak region and the support for our troops that transcends partisanship. If you have 20 minutes, give it a view; I found it quite refreshing to watch a presidential address without yelling at the screen for a change.
View all comments (25) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by John Tabin
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/03/29/credit-where-its-due
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Ken (Old Texican)| 3.29.10 @ 8:49AM
Did he use his lying teleprompter?
Margie| 3.29.10 @ 2:12PM
HaHa!
Pete| 3.29.10 @ 9:26AM
With the way his radical domestic strategy is shaping up, he is going to need the military to be on his side against regular Americans sooner or later.
SoCon| 3.29.10 @ 3:13PM
No way, Pete--ain't going to happen. Google 'Oath Keepers' to see where these fine patriotic Americans line up.
They're WITH us!
Jim Hlavac | 3.29.10 @ 9:40AM
Well, yes, wonderful speech perhaps. But what good is that? From what I've gathered he's been giving wonderful speeches for a few years now. All the very best words and phrases, indeed. His speeches give him a slightly positive "personal approval" rating. But his deeds? Ah, that's got him in the pits.
So words of the correct sort for days he gives, true. Then he goes and does something else.
We love his speeches and hate his actions. Odd that is.
It seems his speeches are as solid as the little lights flickering across the screens to left & right, but his deeds will come to haunt us.
Liberal Reader| 3.29.10 @ 1:11PM
It does good to the soldiers he's addressing.
Speeches are central to good leadership (not just effective leadership) particularly when it comes to foreign policy, justifying the causes and objectives of war, and diplomacy.
One problem of the previous administration is that the most persuasive supporters of the war in Iraq were journalists and commentators -- not the president himself. What does it mean that I learned more about the justice of our cause (to the extent that it was just) from Christopher Hitchens, a smarmy column writer at Vanity Fair, than I did from President Bush?
The country is fortunate to have a president who, like Reagan, Kennedy, and FDR, can articulate ideas and inspire the country to support a foreign policy that has been developed in a largely bi-partisan fashion. (I know this last remark will cause many of you to honk and bray in protest, but it is the mere truth that Obama has wisely embraced a foreign policy based upon W's. Sometimes consistency is its own virtue.)
Patriot| 3.29.10 @ 3:15PM
Pretty speeches are nice but Obama's battlefield policies are hand-cuffing our fine military and causing unnecessary deaths.
Let our military fight!
Liberals suck at fighting wars.
Katherine Lambert| 3.29.10 @ 8:34PM
Oh yes Libtard Reader he is so smart. Like when he said 57 states. Or 3000% Reduction on Insurance Costs when he meant to say a $2500 or something. Or what about when he said that Health Insurance was going to go for an Earthquake in Hawaii? Duh. Or how about that humdinger where he quoted Abraham Lincoln from "his" library at the White House and the quote is only in the book Things Famous People Never Said. Or how about his incredible intelligence when he said Insurance would have to cover all sick children, pre-existing or not, and it turns out that isn't true. Or how about that humdinger on picking the Final Four - got all of them wrong. How about that great speech when he said that anyone can a buy a pick up truck insulting all pick up owners and people without a job. Yea he gives a terrific speech if you are dumb, illiterate and believe a teleprompter instead of your own wireless. Get a life and go post on Democratic Underground or Daily Kos. Or just buy John Tabin a drink. You two are probably best buds.
Bunkerville | 3.29.10 @ 9:54AM
Now that was a whopper!!!
“Democratic presidential candidate Barack in 2007: Obama is calling for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. combat brigades from Iraq, with the pullout being completed by the end of next year. ‘Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was,’ Obama said
http://bunkerville.wordpress.c.....r-whopper/
Katherine Lambert| 3.29.10 @ 10:41AM
John Tabin are you insane? This man is destroying our country. Do you think Radical Jihad Muslims, Rahm Emanuel or Andy Stern stop and say , "Well Gee that George W. can be a nice guy!" No they don't they hate and hate and work and work and drop sand bags from overpasses for RNC buses going below, they shoot in windows where people are working phone banks for conservative candidates. We don't care if your little elitist baronmeter of well we have to be FAIR and bipartisan and admit he gives a good speech. Well that is what got him elected you bozo head. "We don't quit! He lied. "America has mettled" (blame Bush just one more time).
Shut up and sit down John Tabin you are no warrior for these times! Talking about the deck chairs Obama is trying to get us to sit in while our country sinks like the Titanic. Go talk to your buddy David Frum and meet at Tucker Carlson's house for cocktails. Angry. You bet. In. NO. MOOD. to play fair or listen O Dictator in a false leather jacket.
grant1863| 3.29.10 @ 10:47AM
I agree, being fair will just make us slaves faster. BUT being angry just makes us look stupid and crazy making it difficult to persuade people to the better side.
Margie| 3.29.10 @ 2:30PM
I'll take the righteous anger in a person any day over the empty suit.
matthew s harrison| 3.29.10 @ 10:49AM
too bad his rhetoric never matches actions.
matthew s harrison| 3.29.10 @ 11:13AM
Also-John-do you not remember when Barry Soetero(that is his real name by the way-he never legally changed it) said this: "Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. combat brigades from Iraq, with the pullout being completed by the end of next year. 'Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was,' Obama said." -- Obama calls for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, AP, Sep. 12, 2007
I would say that his speech while in Afghanistan was just more smoke up the backside of a military who are demoralized, much as our boys were in Nam, by unrealistic rules of engagement, and a Commander In Chief who doesn't support them, their mission, or their love of country.
Mikep| 3.29.10 @ 11:39AM
"The United States of America does not quit once it starts on something. You don't quit, the American armed services does not quit. We keep at it. We persevere." -- Pres. Obama to US troops in Afghanistan, March 28, 2010
"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. combat brigades from Iraq, with the pullout being completed by the end of next year. 'Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq and there never was,' Obama said." -- Obama calls for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, AP, Sep. 12, 2007
There are lies, damned lies, and then the kind of brazen rewriting of what a man stands for that Barack Obama engaged in yesterday.
Historian| 3.29.10 @ 12:08PM
I could not listen to 20 minutes of Obama speaking even if he were congratulating me for winning $ 100.,000,000 in the Lottery
Liberal Reader| 3.29.10 @ 1:06PM
Sweet Lord. At Am. Spec.?
A kind word for Obama?
Careful. You might transform into credible critics of the president if you demonstrate you are capable of giving "credit where credit is due."
And I wouldn't chalk it up to his ability to "give a good speech," an ability conservatives mention with some considerable jaundice.
You cannot give a good speech unless you are a good thinker. Now, the converse is not true: Bush was actually not as lazy a thinker as his speeches suggested.
But speech-giving IS one of the most important things a president DOES -- particularly when it comes to addressing troops deployed in other countries.
I agree that Obama did a fine job in this speech, and I think many of his speeches reveal him to be much more thoughtful -- and much less "radical" -- than people on the right often claim.
Patriot| 3.29.10 @ 3:16PM
Even a broken watch shows the correct time twice a day.
Margie| 3.29.10 @ 2:21PM
Credit to where credit is due? That is a true principle. It does not apply to this President. Liars are due their "credit" and he will get his as will all liars.
What credit is due to this man who when General Petraeus asked for 80,000 troops for the war and he refused, sending only half.
Anyone can give a speech saying the right things. Actions speak louder than words. Anyone can be a cheerleader using a teleprompter, but it takes a real man and a true leader to mean what he says and to be able to have his character match up with his words.
He does not get a pass from me.
Tish | 3.29.10 @ 6:58PM
Pretty words, but the 2 soldiers I know who were there didn't believe any of them, and with good reason. His Oneness thinks soldiers are racist cretins, just like their knuckledragging parents in flyover country. The only military people Obama can stand are the fanny-smooching top brass who are pc to the max and don't stand up for their troops.
Patriot| 3.29.10 @ 7:41PM
God bless and protect our military.
Tick| 3.29.10 @ 9:36PM
And I wouldn't chalk it up to his ability to "give a good speech," an ability conservatives mention with some considerable jaundice.
You cannot give a good speech unless you are a good thinker. Now, the converse is not true: Bush was actually not as lazy a thinker as his speeches suggested.
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Georgie| 3.30.10 @ 12:39AM
LibReader does have a tick.