my quick reaction to obamas speech. . fwiw

my comments in italics .. .paraphrased in regular .. and direct quotes in quotes

successful conclusion.  . i much prefer this rhetoric to winning.  .

bush moved this conflict backwards- since obama took office he has authorized more troops and has had success.  ..  .i missed this when it happened

the media has been lying to you.  . there has been no plan that put more troops in until 2010 so there has been no delay but now i am announcing that we are putting in 30,000 more. status quo not working

not just americas war.  .stakes are high.  .must act with our allies

troops will go to population centers .. is that where al qaeda is?

troops will leave in july 2011 ..  .then what happens?

we trust pakistan

cadets like to sleep

we need to train afghan security forces ..  .we should really start a school for this.  . we seem to do it alot

national security = economy

our prosperity = our power

big push to stop spread of nukes.  . good! can we get rid of some of ours please?

we will now become a nation that helps to end human rights violations across this globe ..  . we will stop all of ours?

america is great and we will keep fighting to make it better

“its easy to forget that when this war started we were united”

“we can summon that unity again”