Analysis: A Limp and Lifeless Speech

President Obama's speech from the oval office, only the second of his presidency, was surprisingly limp. With three momentous subjects to cover - Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. economy - Obama struggled to say anything new or interesting. It isn't just that the soaring rhetoric of 2008 has disappeared; Obama is now affirmatively boring.

In "turning the page" on Iraq, the Great Speechifier could find no words with which to give meaning to our epic struggle there. Let's give Obama the benefit of the doubt and assume this is because he thinks the struggle had no meaning, except as it related to domestic politics in the U.S. But then why give a speech about it?

Perhaps the idea was to signal our resolve going forward. The best he could do on this front was to say that after our troops leave at the end of 2011, we'll still have diplomats, aid workers, and advisors on the scene. But we have diplomats, aid workers, and advisors all over the world; what if Iraq needs more than that, given all of its challenges? If Obama signaled anything in this speech, it was his lack of interest in Iraq's past (Saddam who?), present, and future. Read more...

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Barack Obama Monotones

Barack Obama again waited for Rush Limbaugh to go on vacation before addressing the public from the Oval Office. Like the last speech, this speech was, for three-quarters of it, dry and monotone — President Spock addressing the nation without emotion.

Finally, at the end, Spockobama gave into emotion and showed some talking about the troops.

Throughout though, the speech was a rather pathetic speech. Not since February of 2009 has Barack Obama talked in detail about Iraq and his Oval Office speech tonight indicates this may be the last we ever hear of Iraq from him. He couldn’t wait to move on to topics more to his liking.

He praised George W. Bush — but curiously set up his praise in a way to make himself look better. He then turned almost as quickly to the economy and blamed George Bush for the economic picture. At least tonight, however, he was kind enough not to use Bush’s name directly.

Changing subjects again, this speech about Iraq went off on domestic spending initiatives, then made sure the Taliban knew we definitely would be departing Afghanistan on time so they could sit back and relax a few more months before taking back over. Read more ...