Where’s Rove? He’s been awfully quiet lately, hasn’t he? But one reader suspects his finger-marks are all over this speech. Here’s an interesting take:
If one views the speech as a campaign speech, it becomes intelligible. The words are focus group tested and, and while it cannot contain lies readily detectable by the audience, the truth is viewed as irrelevant. Therefore there is the reference to 9/ll because it is still is a hot-button phrase, although by 43’s own admission that has nothing to do with Iraq. He refers to another hot-button issue, controlling the threat of terror, even though his own National Intelligence Estimate concludes the Iraqi war is exacerbating that threat. He harps on Iran because memories linger of the kidnapping of the US employees at the American Embassy there.
He accepts responsibility for mistakes because they learned from a similar admission with Katrina that this plays well. Of course, as with Katrina, it means nothing because he is by definition responsible and because the acceptance of responsibility has no policy ramifications. Jordan has an attractive and westernized king and queen and therefore he avoids references to that country even though most aid to the Sunni insurgents flows across its borders.
One could go on and on. But, fundamentally, the speech can only comprehended if it’s analyzed as a campaign tool intended to achieve an objective but with no intention of conveying concrete information.
But whose campaign? This president is outta here soon. I think the reader may be more accurate if he described this as a political speech designed to provide minimal cover until the president leaves office. But, still, I’m not convinced. I have a feeling that this is less a Rove speech than a Cheney speech. I don’t believe Cheney thinks this anemic gesture is a game-changer. Even he hasn’t become that unhinged. So what else can it mean? My gut tells me that this speech was, in fact, a serious military warning to Syria and Iran. This president may have in mind a future escalation far greater and more explosive than anything we’re doing in Baghdad. The real reason we’re not withdrawing is that we are keeping our options open for a wider war. And the president, as always, is not being honest about his real intentions.
(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP.)
The Dish 