For all of the president’s problems with grammar, language, pronunciation, and extemporaneous speaking, he’s occasionally decent on the stump. No one will ever label Bush the Great Communicator, but if you hand him something to read, and put it on a teleprompter, he can usually impress a sympathetic crowd and get by without embarrassing himself.
But once in a while, something goes wrong. This morning, for example, the president delivered a speech on funding the war in Iraq before American Legion Post 177 in a DC suburb in Virginia. Maybe there was a problem with the teleprompter, or maybe the president decided he’d wing it, but one need not have been on the stage with the president to know that he wasn’t sticking to a prepared text. See if you can spot Bush’s verbal tic.
“In other words, we don’t have the luxury of hoping for the best, of sitting back and being passive in the face of this threat…. And in the face of the violence — in other words, there was reprisal, people said, we’re going to get even, how dare these people do this — and in the face of this violence, I had a choice to make.”
“In other words, the lack of security would have created an opportunity for extremists to move in…. In sending more troops — in other words, in sending troops in, it is — I recognize that this is more than a military mission.”
“A little less than half of — only about half of the reinforcements that he’s asked for have arrived. In other words, this operation is just getting started….. Our troops are also training Iraqis. In other words, part of the effort is not only to provide security to neighborhoods, but we’re constantly training Iraqis so that they can do this job.”
“In other words, slowly but surely these extremists are being brought to justice by Iraqis, with our help…. In other words, there are consequences for delaying this money…. I tried to put this war into a historical context for them. In other words, I told them that they’re laying the foundation of peace. In other words, the work we’re doing today really will yield peace for a generation to come.”
“In other words, it matters what happens in distant lands.”
There were 13 in all. The speech was only a half-hour long.
Of course, for those of you interested in more substantive concerns, Bush’s speech wasn’t just awkward and repetitious, it was also wrong.
“In the coming days, our military leaders will notify Congress that they will be forced to transfer $1.6 billion from other military accounts to cover the shortfall caused by Congress’s failure to fund our troops in the field. That means our military will have to take money from personnel accounts so they can continue to fund U.S. Army operations in Iraq and elsewhere.”
That’s wrong. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service found that the Army can fund the war through July. Bush is manufacturing a crisis because he thinks it suits his purposes.
“If we retreat — were to retreat from Iraq, what’s interesting and different about this war is that the enemy would follow us here. And that’s why it’s important we succeed in Iraq.”
First, they won’t follow us here. Second, National Intelligence Director John McConnell concluded that terrorists organizing in Pakistan are much more likely to attack the United States than terrorists in Iraq — and as far as Bush is concerned, Pakistan is an ally.
“When it comes to funding our troops, we have no time to waste. It’s time for them to get the job done. So I’m inviting congressional leaders from both parties — both political parties — to meet with me at the White House next week.”
Actually, he called the meeting to demand 100% compliance with all of his demands.
“[T]here are some encouraging signs.”
Actually, over 40 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq this month — the month that started 10 days ago. If the tragic trend keeps up, April will be one of the deadliest months for U.S. soldiers in Iraq in years.
If this speech was part of some kind of public-relations offensive, the White House has quite a bit of work to do.