President Bush delivered a harshly worded speech to the National Endowment for Democracy this morning, accusing what he called "Islamic-fascists" of seeking to build a "totalitarian empire of global reach." (International Herald Tribune: Bush turns up rhetoric in the antiterror fight.) The President also lashed out at elements of Arab news networks which he accused of promoting an agenda of hatred aimed at the US and Israel.
The President's toughest language was reserved for Syria and Iran, calling them "allies of convenience" with the Islamic-fascists waging war against the US. These two nations "use terrorist propaganda to blame their own failures on the West and American and the Jews."
The speech came at a time when the President's poll numbers are approaching all-time lows and support for the war in Iraq has dropped below 50%. Intended to reinvigorate the nation in the War on Terror, the President missed a great opportunity by delivering the speech mid-morning rather than at prime time. Rather than deliver his message directly to the nation, the President must now rely on the media and his own spin network to press the message. That tactic has resoundly failed for the last three years and there's no reason to expect it to succeed now.
The message the President delivered is absolutely correct. The leaders of these terror networks are indeed Islamic-fascists and they do seek a global empire of Islamic extremism ranging, as the President said, "from Spain to Indonesia." He is absolutely correct in labeling Syria and Iran as terrorist allies. They have been and remain enemies of the US. He is also correct targeting elements of the Arab media who oftentimes seem little more than the mouthpieces of the more radical elements of Islam. They, too, are the enemy of the US and are as much a propaganda tool for the terrorists as was Goebbels' propaganda machine in Nazi Germany.
This was a speech that the American people needed to hear. It is a message that the President must get through to the general public. With elections only a week away in Iraq, we are quickly reaching a critical point in the War on Terror. The American people are in desperate need of a rallying cry by the President. We need something to refocus our will on the overall mission. Unfortunately, a major speech delivered at 10:00 AM simply doesn't cut it. As I stated yesterday, the President had several points he needed to drive home in this address and that simply did not happen. Regardless of content, the timing alone makes this speech a failure.
Technorati: politics Bush speech National Endowment of Democracy Iraq War on Terror
IceRocket: politics Bush speech National Endowment of Democracy Iraq War on Terror
1 comment :
I don't have a problem with the message being the same. It's the right message and, given the short memory most Americans have, it's one that must be repeated often. My problem with it is that he doesn't take the message directly to the people often enough. He has to address the nation in prime time more often. People need to be constantly reminded as to why we're doing this, and giving a speech at 10:00 AM just doesn't cut it.
No, Rove didn't write this speech, but I don't recall who did write it. They briefly mentioned it in passing on CNN tonight, but I didn't catch the full story.
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