F.Y.I.
I, for one, do not think it fell flat at all.
Sorry, John, but this is not a helpful column. I think you are mistaken.
You clearly worked hard on this piece, and it has real meat, and for that I salute you. You are a bit vague however, as to what Bush should have said, that it was prudent for him to say, to please the crowd. What should he have prudently said, that he did not say, and what did he say that he imprudently should not have said. Lawyers want particulars. Generalities are for the madding crowd.
It was a workmanlike speech.
It's too early to start revving up the base and going after the undecideds.
People can only keep a high emotional pitch for a limited time, and the time to start serious speechifying will be after the Olympics.
Only hardcore Bushbots do not recognize the truth that he has lost his way.
About the Author: ... lawyer ...
That disqualifies him for being a human being.
Well-written, Congressman, but I don't necessarily agree. I think the President did a good job delivering a speech accessible to both his War College crowd and his broader audience. He very much needed to appeal to Mr. and Mrs. Joe America that night, and I think he pulled it off without shortchanging the live audience.
The first rule of journalism is: don't write about something you know nothing about.
Students at the war colleges aren't only general officers and military historians.
The vast majority are officers returning from overseas assignments who are being reassigned to teach ROTC. They are being given basic lesson plans and educational material to present to college ROTC students. They are being taught how to grade papers and use the teacher's edition of text books.
I don't want to pick nits, but this statement is misleading and is not really correct. The War College which is in Pennsylvania is the Army's War College. It is attended primarily, but not exclusively, by senior Army officers. The Air Force has a War College too, and it is in Alabama, attended primarily by senior Air Force officers. The Navy also has one, which, if I recall correctly, is in Rhode Island, attended primarily by Navy officers. Then there is the National War College in Washington DC, which all services utilize, and is generally considered to be the gold standard of senior service schools. There is yet another senior service school, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, but it is another story altogether.
While it is well nigh impossible to be selected for flag rank without having attended one of the senior service schools, it is not at all accurate to state that all flag officers have attended the Army's War College.
For what it's worth.
Could it be that this audience thought of the speaker as their Commander-In-Chief and adhered to military protocol and discipline?
-PJ
I didn't think the speech "fell flat" at all. Certainly the battlefield circumstances under which it was delivered were difficult. I'm reluctant to be so crass as to judge the efficacy of the speech by Wall Street's reaction, but FWIW, the market reaction seems positive.
Granted, he's not a great orator (Abu Ghirab for instance, but he does have a way of getting the point across in a somewhat subdued and understated manner. I hope you aren't in the Dick Morris camp demanding he learn to speak "women".
Pray for W and Our Brave Troops
I, too, thought the speech lacked something, but later realized it was like a story being told, with more chapters to come....it seemed almost too intellectual in some ways, (having read some freepers analysis it appears there were subtle messages everywhere that not everyone would pick up on). Yet, I too, wanted some specificity as to what in the past we have faced and how we have pulled together to meet it....LOL....so many critics.... and, what's sobering...so many more chapters to come....
Posted here two days before publication.
I thought the speech was wonkish. But I would like to hear more inpsirational speeches on a more frequent basis.
[1] No Way to Run a War (Only 18 responses here! Unbelievable!)
[2] War in the Absence of Strategic Clarity (Was it ever posted?)
Thank you. Your letter is goof\d. I agree President Bush is not a great speaker, but he is a doer! We all have questions about Iraq and Terrorism but he ca'nt asnwer them all because of security. Thats o.k. with me. No one will stop supporting President Bush because he is a so-so speaker. As if we'd vote for Kerry, right??!!
Sorry my last post had a typo. Your letter is GOOD not goof!