Presidential Address

I watched the President’s address last night. Of course, his speach brought up all sorts of memories of September 11th, 2001 when he gave a similarly timed address to let the nation know we would respond. Much of what he said reminded me of how strong he was during those days immediately following the attacks.

He re-enforced some strong reasons for continuing on with what we’re doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that some people see it as a purely political issue, but I really think that this strategy, and all of the terror plots that have been thwarted in the last severa, have proven that if we had done nothing… we’d be far worse off than we are currently. I don’t catch a lot of speaches by the President, but this was the strongest I have heard in quite a while.

Across the broader Middle East, the extremists are fighting to prevent such
a future.  Yet America has confronted evil before, and we have defeated it
— sometimes at the cost of thousands of good men in a single battle.  When
Franklin Roosevelt vowed to defeat two enemies across two oceans, he could
not have foreseen D-Day and Iwo Jima — but he would not have been
surprised at the outcome.  When Harry Truman promised American support for
free peoples resisting Soviet aggression, he could not have foreseen the
rise of the Berlin Wall — but he would not have been surprised to see it
brought down.  Throughout our history, America has seen liberty challenged,
and every time, we have seen liberty triumph with sacrifice and
determination.

At the start of this young century, America looks to the day when the
people of the Middle East leave the desert of despotism for the fertile
gardens of liberty, and resume their rightful place in a world of peace and
prosperity.  We look to the day when the nations of that region recognize
their greatest resource is not the oil in the ground, but the talent and
creativity of their people.  We look to the day when moms and dads
throughout the Middle East see a future of hope and opportunity for their
children.  And when that good day comes, the clouds of war will part, the
appeal of radicalism will decline, and we will leave our children with a
better and safer world. [See the full transcript or watch the video]