Now You Can Watch "Average Joes Strike Back"
Reader Mark Eichenlaub is today's honorary Power Liner. In addition to his earlier contributions, he sends a link to this Associated Press retrospective on President Bush's speech tonight:
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - President Bush on Tuesday appealed for the nation's patience for "difficult and dangerous" work ahead in Iraq, hoping a backdrop of U.S. troops and a reminder of Iraq's revived sovereignty would help him reclaim control of an issue that has eroded his popularity.In an evening address at an Army base that has 9,300 troops in Iraq, Bush was acknowledging the toll of the 27-month-old war. At the same time, he aimed to persuade skeptical Americans that his strategy for victory needed only time — not any changes — to be successful.
Bush's repeated acknowledgment of death and difficulty came less than a month after Vice President Dick Cheney proclaimed the Iraq insurgency "in the last throes." Still, the president's overriding message was one of optimism.
"The American people do not falter under threat, and we will not allow our future to be determined by car bombers and assassins," he said.
Democrats and other critics said the country needed more specifics than Bush has been giving.
"We just don't have a clue what the criteria for success is," said Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., a Vietnam combat veteran. "People are still willing to give the president time if he would just level with them."
I suppose Murtha, unlike Bush, had actually made his comments when Ms. Loven wrote her article. The AP's past tense characterizations of the speech are based on excerpts released by the White House this afternoon. I suppose, realistically, Ms. Loven could have written the rest of her article last month. I note that the article is datelined Fort Bragg; that should mean that Loven is actually there. It will be interesting to see whether she revises her article after she has actually heard the speech.
