Obama on terror

Good, sensible, tough speech. I especially liked this:

What we saw that morning forced us to recognize that in a new world of threats, we are no longer protected by our own power. And what we saw that morning was a challenge to a new generation.

That's what marks the difference from the GOP candidates (aka Bush's third term). They continue the same kind of all hat and no cattle that preznit parrots all day every day, vowing to continue to pound Middle Eastern countries that don't harbor Osama bin Laden and his colleagues. In other words, they believe that by our power we will crush them. Which is very, very stupid. They still believe that the reason al Qaeda operatives flew fuel loaded jet planes into buildings six years ago is that bin Laden was "encouraged" by the fact that Clinton didn't respond forcefully enough to the embassy bombings and USS Cole. When, in fact, bin Laden's modus operendi is to ratchet up the attacks in the hope that we would lash out, bellowing in fury. He got his wish. We decided to throw a "crappy little country against the wall." And bin Laden watches us wallowing in Iraq and smiles.

So it's important for Obama to keep hammering away at this. John Edwards remark that the global war on terror is "just a bumper sticker" was received with less than warm embrace even by Democrats who know it's true. The remark may still come back to haunt him. But the idea behind the words is accurate, just poorly (I hate this word) framed. This is better.

It's time to turn the page on the diplomacy of tough talk and no action. It's time to turn the page on Washington's conventional wisdom that agreement must be reached before you meet, that talking to other countries is some kind of reward, and that Presidents can only meet with people who will tell them what they want to hear.