Iraq Speech to VFW- Echo of JFK

I know, I have been among the missing in action. I apologize, but my free time was taken up the the Simpsons, Transformers, and Bournes. I was reminded that I had a blog when Irene sent me the link to President Bush's recent speech. Below is a paragraph to whet your interest.

While I have to bang my head sometimes for want of information from the White House and for the stilted stuff that finally issues from the press office, I have been a fan or reading Bush's speeches and watching C-SPAN and know that his good stuff never, I mean never, makes it to air. No, not even on FOX. Something to do with a nation of people with ten-second attention spans.

Sometime ago, I reviewed his energy plan/speech given in a biodiesel plant, but you never saw that on air either. It is a good plan and only now are parts of it being passed. You never see critics attack Bush's grasp of economics, business, and energy because, I would submit, they would not want to bring attention to his mastery of these matters. Just bark something about Halliburton for effect.

Anyway, for the Iraq speech, click on the title. I still wish there would be more detail, though, say by way of white papers (no that is not racist.) After the section below, I quote John Kennedy who explained what we are doing some 45 years ago. Like Kennedy said, we do these things because they are hard. BUSH:

...Now, I know some people doubt the universal appeal of liberty, or worry that the Middle East isn't ready for it. Others believe that America's presence is destabilizing, and that if the United States would just leave a place like Iraq those who kill our troops or target civilians would no longer threaten us. Today I'm going to address these arguments. I'm going to describe why helping the young democracies of the Middle East stand up to violent Islamic extremists is the only realistic path to a safer world for the American people. I'm going to try to provide some historical perspective to show there is a precedent for the hard and necessary work we're doing, and why I have such confidence in the fact we'll be successful...

JFK was a bit more old-fashioned in his rhetoric because people still read and could follow bunches of paragraphs in a row. When you read his Inauguration speech, excerpt below, and his Berlin speech, as well as recall his use of tax cuts to spur the economy, consider whether JFK could be a 2007 Democrat. EXCERPT:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.	4
This much we pledge—and more.	5
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.	6
To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom—and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.	7
To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required—not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.	8
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge—to convert our good words into good deeds—in a new alliance for progress—to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this .. neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.