Speechin'

I'll be watching tonight, even though the blogs have already provided most of the juice. It would be funny if all the pre-speech material was just a ruse and that Bush was really planning to announce some jaw-dropping news, but it's really not his style.

I'm not convinced 20,000 extra troops will solve the problem. A smart insurgent leader would withdraw from Baghdad to the outlying areas just like the Taliban did in Aghanistan and the ICU terrorists are doing now in Somalia. When everyone thinks the situation is under control come back with a vengeance and shoot everything down.

The forces of destablization have plenty of time. Without confronting Iran or Syria or ripping apart the Ba'athist-al Qaeda terror infrastructure nothing will likely change, and Bush's new strategy will be like a coat of paint on an old car. This puts me in line with both Ollie North and Wesley Clark, at least as to extra troops not working in and of themselves.

Speaking of Clark, he was on O'Reilly saying he still believes we can rationally talk with Iran--that he'd take a "bag of carrots and sticks" over there like he did with Slobodan. Dick Morris followed by pointing out there are no carrots nor sticks and that if we talk it would be pleading, not negotiating. That's evidenced by the fact Iran continues to poke the chest of the west without recrimination. If we had a stick we'd have already used it, but apparently Iran has some mighty strong deterrence.

DA SPEECH 1/10/07

This speech will not convince many, especially the fence sitters. But what Bush is proposing has to be done, whether it works or not. Perhaps the most stunning in my mind, and that's taking some dramatic license, was the part about helping to secure the borders with Iran and Syria. He had to address these disruptions. Let's keep in mind Bush could not divulge everything in detail as the enemy was listening.

Like all other presidents, Bush is the eternal optimist. But even the optimist appeared to be a little less confident than in speeches past. That's nothing to be happy about. At least the left can't accuse him of not admitting mistakes anymore.

SPEECH AFTERMATH 1/11/07

moved to it's own post..