President Bush’s speech to the nation on the subject of Iraq went rather well. It’s seems clear that Bush does well with prepared speeches and has gotten some significant speech coaching. (He even pronounced the word "nuclear" correctly!) He did what he needed to do, and that is sound Presidential.
As for the content of his speech, he also did exactly what he needed to do, and that is lay out a clear and coherent case for action in Iraq. That he did, explaining exactly what the threat is and what needs to be done to defuse that threat. The list of violations made by the Iraqi regime in the past eleven years are worthy of action in and of themselves, and the President made it clear that these infractions are unacceptable for the interests of not only the United States but of world peace in general.
Will the speech be effective in rallying support? Domestically, yes, it will, not that Bush needed much more support than he had. As far as our erstwhile European allies are concerned, they’re not going to support a strike against Iraq no matter what. They’ve made their decision, and they’ll have to live with it.
What this speech has done is confirmed that the Bush Administration realizes what the threat is, and will not waver from the task of removing that threat. In the end, that’s the message that President Bush needed to send to the American people and the world, and that’s exactly what he did.
