Not so fast: the President at his best
He's been taking a thumping in the polls and in the media. Talking point: "We're teetering on the brink of civil war." Maybe so. But a President leads, and this President is leading. Pity the surrounding stand of toothpicks (his critics), emboldened by leaning on each other for support, who denounce him and have no program instead. Only "not Bush".
The strategy of establishing democracies as a long-term solution to terrorism is brilliant and simple to articulate. Of course, the devil's in the details and in making it happen, or creating the correct security environment so it can happen in Iraq (and elsewhere). His critics are making it tougher.
The President is on the road to make the case to the people. As one of his core constituency, I'm relieved. And I'm sold. If his base is listening, he'll get a bounce in the polls and we'll get through this.
I caught part of his Cleveland speech (link above) on C-SPAN last night. Bush is not a gifted public speaker (how's that for an understatement?). But he was at his best in Cleveland -- insightful, passionate, in command. I'm sure his political advisors (and the midterm GOP candidates who are going wobbly) encouraged this trip. But because he usually sounds so wooden, his speech was refreshing. Forthright, sincere, articulate, committed. Not canned. In short, real. As real as it gets. A President leads, and this President is leading. The President also did well to directly confront the loony Helen Thomas and the White House press today.
Over at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds quotes a "reverse eat crow" email quoting a 2003 Reynolds posting about antiwar critics being wrong. The emailer now implies that the antiwar crowd has now been proved right about the war (talking point: "We're teetering on the brink of civil war") and it's time for supporters of the President to fess up and eat crow. Not so fast, says Reynolds. A swelling chorus of criticism singing the same old tune does not make the critics right. It just makes them critics. Still. Read the whole thing.
"Death to terrorists, democracy to Iraq, and safety to the forces for freedom in harm's way."
The strategy of establishing democracies as a long-term solution to terrorism is brilliant and simple to articulate. Of course, the devil's in the details and in making it happen, or creating the correct security environment so it can happen in Iraq (and elsewhere). His critics are making it tougher.
The President is on the road to make the case to the people. As one of his core constituency, I'm relieved. And I'm sold. If his base is listening, he'll get a bounce in the polls and we'll get through this.
I caught part of his Cleveland speech (link above) on C-SPAN last night. Bush is not a gifted public speaker (how's that for an understatement?). But he was at his best in Cleveland -- insightful, passionate, in command. I'm sure his political advisors (and the midterm GOP candidates who are going wobbly) encouraged this trip. But because he usually sounds so wooden, his speech was refreshing. Forthright, sincere, articulate, committed. Not canned. In short, real. As real as it gets. A President leads, and this President is leading. The President also did well to directly confront the loony Helen Thomas and the White House press today.
Over at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds quotes a "reverse eat crow" email quoting a 2003 Reynolds posting about antiwar critics being wrong. The emailer now implies that the antiwar crowd has now been proved right about the war (talking point: "We're teetering on the brink of civil war") and it's time for supporters of the President to fess up and eat crow. Not so fast, says Reynolds. A swelling chorus of criticism singing the same old tune does not make the critics right. It just makes them critics. Still. Read the whole thing.
"Death to terrorists, democracy to Iraq, and safety to the forces for freedom in harm's way."
posted by Barney at 10:50 PM
1 Comments:
This was a good post, and I am going to come back later to read the articles you linked. As you know, I have deeply ambivalent feelings about the war, and am not nearly as convinced as you are that it was the right thing to do. Even so, I acknowledge that my ambivalence is fueled, at least in part, by the relentless drumbeat of a media I deeply distrust, which is composed largely of the same people who used to wring their hands over how dumb Ronald Reagan was. (Actually, I think it's the proteges of those people who are now the media up-and-comers, but the mindset appears to be the same.)
Even with my misgivings, I would still love to see all of this play out the way Bush envisions it, so that he, like Reagan, might have the last laugh over his critics.
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