Obligatory Obama speech post

Jennifer Rubin sums it up:

The speech was weirdly defensive and unduly solicitous of his left wing. Yes, we know he opposed the Iraq war and we know he’d rather work on health care. We know he really doesn’t want to spend his money on wars. But why revisit all that? He is obsessively repeating these themes, as if to assure his base that he really hasn’t gone all neo-con on them. Just a short, finite war, he says. Then we’ll get back to reinventing America. But the audience here isn’t and shouldn’t be Nancy Pelosi. It is our allies, our enemies, and our troops.

Most critically, the amount of time devoted to his determination to limit our commitment was excessive and exceedingly unhelpful to the task at hand. The nuts and bolt may be almost right, but war-fighting and war-leading are more than getting the troop levels right. It was in many ways a self-indulgent and counterproductive effort. He’s not going to win over the Left, and he frittered away a chance to sound like he really does mean to do whatever it takes to win the war.

From the Corner, Rep. Jason Chaffetz offers more criticism:

“Announcing the date of withdraw will give most a sense of his lack of commitment,” Congressman Chaffetz tells The Corner.

Echoing his comments yesterday, Chaffetz says: “I still worry he is trying to cut the cake in half. Mr. President, go big or go home.”

In the speech, the president “sounded like the bigger threat is in Pakistan and yet he offered no definitive solutions,” Chaffetz observes.

The congressman adds: “His praise of the United Nations would be laughable, if it wasn't so sad.”

As usual with O's speeches, the I's have it. I counted 45. And as usual, he blames Bush and invokes straw men.

In case you missed the dramatic finish see the video below. At the 2:15 mark he raises his chin toward the stars (that schmaltzy prose is contagious), grimaces/pouts oddly, and stares straight into the camera, hoping to mesmerize us in our living rooms:

Updated to add link to excellent analysis by Paul Mirengoff at Power Line. (h/t: Michelle Malkin)

Most recent posts here.