I thought the President’s speech last night was interesting, especially for an address just shy of 11 minutes long. The basics: Obama declared victory in Afghanistan (basis: wanting) and promised to soon take the United States’ ball and go home. (Of course, when you wage covert war, home is where the drone strike target is.) And he did so on the one-year anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, validating those who believed that one of the primary reasons the President so emphasized capturing or killing al Qaeda’s figurehead was for its propaganda value in disengaging from Afghanistan. Obama finished the speech by framing the impending withdrawal from the failed state as the closing of a dark chapter in America’s history, one that began a little more than 10 years ago.
The not especially subtle implication? A second Obama inaugural won’t just represent a victory for the 44th President; it’ll be morning in America.
All of this is well and good and not especially surprising. Past when he was snookered by General McChrystal and his partisans (as well as Obama’s own political cowardice) into sending more troops to Afghanistan than he seemingly intended, I’ve never truly believed that the President wanted much to do with maintaining a significant occupying force in the country. Being the consummate politician he is, he let the generals have their last chance before pulling the plug, but, as much as the United States ever disengages militarily from the undeveloped world (i.e., not much), I think Obama sincerely wants out of Afghanistan.
Of course, a lot of people have died in the time between his decision to send more troops and his speech yesterday — and more will die between now and 2014. Having to accept — or rationalize my way to accepting — compromises and moral sacrifices like these is but one of the many reasons I would not want to be President.
But the section of the speech that really caught my attention was intended for a domestic audience, specifically those in the crowd who haven’t yet decided whether they’ll vote to give the President four more years. It’s a more explicit attempt to tap into the zeitgeist than I’m used to seeing from a President. My emphasis:
My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon. The Iraq War is over. The number of our troops in harm’s way has been cut in half, and more will be coming home soon. We have a clear path to fulfill our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to al Qaeda.
This future is only within reach because of our men and women in uniform. Time and again, they have answered the call to serve in distant and dangerous places. In an age when so many institutions have come up short, these Americans stood tall. They met their responsibilities to one another, and the flag they serve under. I just met with some of them, and told them that as Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder. In their faces, we see what is best in ourselves and our country.
The man certainly knows his audience:
And so we see another important pillar of Obama’s reelection strategy, manifested most explicitly in the Democrats’ trumpeting of the bin Laden mission, but present here, too: Tie yourself to America’s most beloved institution while running against its most loathed. For good and ill, he’s clearly taken the advice of many and decided to give ’em Hell.