First, Obama wanted to make very clear his follow-through of things he promised in the past. The whole address was framed in the context of; "I said I would do it, and here it is." From referring to Bush declaring war from the same desk, to the story of Americans coming home, Obama wanted to spell out in no faint terms that he has made good on his promise of the 2008 election.
Second, Obama tactfully and preemptively dealt with Conservative or Republican backlash with his emphasis on the soldiers' narratives and accomplishments. Most proponents of the conservative political perspective follow a "Bring the troops home" with the accusation of "you don't support them." Obama wanted to make clear that he simultaneously supports the troops and their efforts while also ending their hardship in Iraq. He wanted to hold two seemingly opposed perspectives in his hand at the same time. The "Support our Troops" messaging with the "Bring the Troops Home" messaging were effectively melded in his words. In this way, Obama steals the wind from the sails of opponents as they might have criticized his lack of appreciation for the uniformed duties. Now, they cannot.
Third, the phrase of the speech that most stood out to me; "War is the darkest creation of humanity." Really? Can Obama really get away with saying this after claiming that we need to be on the offensive in Afghanistan. My response to President Obama would be this: If war is the darkest creation of humanity, then why do we spend so much money on it? Why do we support it so?
All in all, the President did a good job of gracefully ending the violent military presence in Iraq. Now, repeat soon with Afghanistan.
When are you going to start getting paid to be a speech analyists? Because you should! Great questions at the end...how do we get Obama to answer them?
ReplyDeleteAnyone else find it interesting that as European nations have moved away from imperialism, we seem to have adopted more of an imperialistic foriegn policy? This was warned against by out founding fathers, and it concerns me, because a look at history shows that "great" empires like Rome for example can only become more and more corrupt and violent. The people become more and more oppressed. Deffinatly the wrong direction for America. So it unnerve me when the President "turns the page" without first addressing Afganastan. None the less, starting the process of leaving Iraq is a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, I certainly agree with you. Though, it could be argued that our imperialistic habits have been more underhanded than the tactics used by countries before us. I hope that Afghanistan will be over before Obama leaves office.
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