The news event we all been waiting for has come and went. We were getting
pumped up for this great speech by our President; some skeptical we would be
given a plan, others skeptical of a better vision. What we ended up with is a
half hour of our lives down the toilet and a repeat of the same old facts.

My skepticism may have paid off some though. The President’s speech to the
nation tonight did anything but help his appearance. Instead of presenting a
diligent speech from the oval office, or making the people feel more in touch
with a prime time press conference, he took center stage at a military base. It
had the same ambiance of being on an aircraft carrier, wearing a jumpsuit in
front of a large banner that says “Mission Accomplished”. No in fact what should
have been a rallying point for the President, whose performance is overshadowed
by a constantly falling approval rating, turned into a repeat of more rhetoric
or to put it in his own words “catapulting of propaganda”.

At my count he referenced 9/11 a total of five times. Why is the President
making an association between Iraq and 9/11 again now that it has been proven
there was no link? The answer is simple – FEAR. This administration has shown a
strong desire to lead by bestowing fear amongst the masses. Rather it be in the
form of a bogus terror alert or false accusations of WMD, the President was able
to take the worst moment in our countries short history and turn it to his
favor. He used these associations to 9/11 to defend the war in Iraq now that he
has effectively destabilized the area and turned it into a training ground for
Al Qaeda.

Previously our President tried to make a strong tie between Saddam and 9/11,
but that tie has wilted away. The fact is out that there was absolutely no tie.
Now our country is less safe against terrorists because we have given them a
greater pool of recruits and larger training ground. The scariest part is that
Americans know this, but our President doesn’t.

He refuses to set any kind of plausible plan or timeline for turning over the
security of Iraq to its own government. He refuses setting a timetable because
of the allegation that the insurgents would just wait us out. We don’t want a
timetable for that. We want a timetable to have Iraq trained and its forces up
to the job of handling its own security.

By the President’s own words this means that as long as insurgents are in
Iraq, so will we be in Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld even said this week this insurgency
could last 12 years. Are the American people ready to pay for an occupation of
Iraq that can last another 12 years. Americans are already tired of paying the
price of this war. We are tired of our beloved soldiers dying in a war that was
waged on false pretenses. We are tired of being lied to by the man we elected to
lead us. We are tired of you not hearing the citizens of this country, the model
of democracy; ask for answers and ignoring the questions!

What the President did tonight is toot his own horn once again. It was
nothing out of the ordinary. We hear it all the time. He may have mustard a
temporary increase in military morale, but that will dissipate once the reality
of this war goes on. One thing is for certain; he did guarantee a stagnant
approval rating of his performance and increase an already dangerous disconnect
with the people of this nation. In turn all we had was a half-assessed half time
show. The difference in this half time show was there was no nipple; we were
only entertained with one large boob!!