The Inflection Point

I’ve been taking a look at the reactions to President Bush’s speech (and Allah has a ton of them. Allahu akbar for that…) as well as going over my own thoughts on this.

This speech marks an inflection point in the race. This is the point where the momentum of the race dramatically changes in the President’s favor.

It doesn’t necessarily mean he has it in the bag – things could change, and Bush could squander the opportunity, but I think the momentum is now firmly on the President’s side.

Let’s face it, the Bush haters will do what they always do – show an astonishing amount of hatred for the President. They’re not going to be converted, they’ve already swallowed the Kool-Aid and are so wrapped up in partisan vitriol that they can’t even seem to acknowledge Bush’s humanity anymore. This wasn’t a speech for them.

This was a speech designed to show a sense of leadership. The first half was not good, a laundry list of proposals and policies only tangentally connected to Bush’s primary economic theme. I was ready to write off Bush’s speech at that point.

But what followed was one of the most strongly heartfelt political speeches I’ve ever seen. And that’s why Bush has changed the nature of this election. The Kerry campaign wants to demonize the President, they want to make him into a careless, downright evil man. Groups like MoveOn want to make him into the Bushitler – the physical embodiment of all that was evil.

Tonight, George W. Bush made both impossible. When we saw him damn near in tears describing the sacrifices of our soldiers, that was an honest moment. It wasn’t scripted, it wasn’t rehearsed, it wasn’t some stage-managed contrivance. It was the President of the United States expressing the essential lonliness of command. This cemented the excellent opening slideshow narrated by Fred Thompson. George W. Bush humanized himself last night. I think that’s what made the difference. All the talk about “compassionate conservatism” and policy proposals to show how much Bush cares didn’t do it – actually getting on stage and showing honest emotion did.

Now, expect unprecendented negativity from the Kerry campaign. They will attack Cheney’s deferments and Bush’s ANG service. They will attack the President as being uncaring, evil, a warmonger, a vicious racist. They’ll attack the economy.

But in the end Kerry has no vision for the future – just attacks. That is why Bush will win this November, and that is why he should.

UPDATE: Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner has the results of Frank Luntz’ Ohio swing-voter focus group. 13 of the 21 decided on this speech. Bush leads 15 to 6. The momentum has changed, and Bush is going to get one hell of a boost from this.

UPDATE #2: From Moxie:

Bush hit a home run tonight.

Not only did he hit it out of the ballpark but out of the continental US.

Right now some small child is picking up pieces of confetti in Iraq. A few balloons are floating into an Afghan schoolyard.

Beautifully said.