Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 2, 2009

A few salient points were made in Obama’s speech last night at West Point, but mostly, it was a long-winded rehash of all his 399,999 other speeches. And it was weak, like a new pot of coffee made with yesterday’s used coffee grounds. Too much hedging, too much blame (ah, yes, Bush again), too little leadership and commitment. It was a restrained, community organizer speech, not a patriotic, rallying, “fight for America and freedom” Commander in Chief speech.

What we expected.

From My Freedom Post:

President Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday night at West Point was loose with the facts, to put it generously. It’s disgraceful that the “Commander-in-Chief” would use this important address before our Cadets of West Point to perform his usual deception, omission, blame, lack of responsibility, and self-promotion. If Obama can’t be straight with the military, who can he be honest with.

From The Powers That Be: Obama’s West Point Speech: Wrong Message in the Right Venue:

This speech had the emotional impact of a football coach delivering a pre-game pep talk to his team and saying “We’re going to go out there and give it our all, but only for three quarters — sooner if I think our helmet logo offends the other team or if our equipment is too expensive.”

Obama’s mistake in speech and venue was that he was trying to talk to the troops and his liberal base at the same time while satisfying both. It falls way short in my opinion, but you be the judge.

From Gateway Pundit: Krauthammer and Hayes Slam Obama’s Weak Afghan Surge Speech (Video):

“It’s not exactly the kind of speech you would have heard from Henry V or Churchill.”

Charles Krauthammer and Stephen Hayes slammed Barack Obama’s weak Afghan Surge speech tonight.

From Sister Toldjah:

For whatever Bush’s faults were, you never doubted that he understood the big picture and knew that it was imperative for us to win. The inclusion of a timetable in Obama’s plan is deeply troublesome, for reasons that are obvious to all but those on the anti-war left who have never gotten it and never will. A timetable sends a signal to the opposition forces that if they just tough it out for a little while longer, eventually the US will give up and cut and run, exit stage left – leaving the door wide open for the violent hostilities and lawlessness to resume. It also sends a signal to allied forces that the United States is only committed to a year and a half time frame for success, and that beyond that, well – too bad. What country would want to send additional troops into a situation where their allies were not committed to success – even beyond a specified timeframe for withdrawal?

Krauthammer and Hayes Slam Obama’s Weak Afghan Surge Speech

When summarizing his take on Obama’s speech, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews called West Point “the enemy camp.” Our military academy is now an ENEMY CAMP? What a putz.

MSNBC: Chris Matthews calls West Point the “Enemy Camp” | December 1, 2009

From Jeff Poor at NewsBusters, Matthews Calls West Point, Site of Obama Speech ‘The Enemy Camp,’ ‘Strange Venue’:

Either MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews let one slip tonight, or it was an extremely poor choice of words.

[...]

Matthews referred to a scene from “Gone with the Wind” about the American Civil War as an example of “excitement” going into a war. He said that was lacking in the room during Obama’s speech.

“I think it’s true of most wars,” Matthews said. “They start with a lot of excitement. I remember the scene in ‘Gone with the Wind’ where the rebels are so excited about going to war with the North, a country they can’t beat because of its industrial advantage and population advantage. They are going to lose that war eventually.”

However, Matthews also said he saw a lot of skepticism among some of the older audience members at West Point, which he called “the enemy camp” and “a strange venue.” (emphasis added)

“It seems like in this case, there isn’t a lot of excitement,” Matthews said. “I watched the cadets, they were young kids – men and women who were committed to serving their country professionally it must be said, as officers. And, I didn’t see much excitement. But among the older people there, I saw, if not resentment, skepticism. I didn’t see a lot of warmth in that crowd out there. The president chose to address tonight and I thought it was interesting. He went to maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case. I mean, that’s where Paul Wolfowitz used to write speeches for, back in the old Bush days. That’s where he went to rabble rouse the “we’re going to democratize the world” campaign back in ‘02. So, I thought it was a strange venue.”

Additional reading:
Hot Air: Matthews on West Point: Obama went to the “enemy camp” tonight, didn’t he?
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: Small Man On A Big Stage
Diary of a Mad Conservative: You sir, are an idiot and Matthews calls West Point the enemy camp
Howard Portnoy, Hot Air Green Room: OK, Here’s the Plan: There Isn’t One
GayPatriot: Obama’s Worst Speech Ever?
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: Obama’s Wartime Egg Timer
Kauffman’s Commentary: Analysis of President Obama’s Afghanistan defeatist speech
Sister Toldjah: Krauthammer and Hayes on Obama’s Afghanistan speech
Track-A-’Crat: West Point – The Enemy Camp
Frugal Café Blog Zone: I’d Trust Dick Cheney with My Life… Once Again, Cheney Blasts Obama Again for His Weakness on Afghanistan and Obama’s Golf-Course Dithering and Hollywood Party Delay Action, So Marines in Afghanistan Not Waiting for POTUS… Also, Taliban Terrorists Want Obama to Cut Them a Deal and Obama & Cheney Duke It Out on National Security — Majority of Americans Support Cheney More per Informal MSNBC Poll and and Dick Cheney: Our Men and Women in the Military Are the True Keepers of the Flame (video & transcript) and Afghanistan Worsens: White House Painting Murderous Taliban as Possible Allies, Soldiers’ Morale Down
Facebook, Sarah Palin: Finally, A Decision for Afghanistan: We’re In It to Win It

Categories: Bless Our Troops, Government, International Relations, Media & Communication, National Security, Social and Political Climate, Videos, Audio Files
Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Charles Krauthammer, Chris Matthews, Fox News, George W. Bush, military, MSNBC, Obama, Obama's speech, POTUS, Pres. Obama, soldiers, terrorism, troops, video, War on Terror, West Point, West point cadets, YouTube