One thing I love about the blogosphere is that sometimes you plan on writing on some topic only to find someone more eloquent has already done your work for you. I was doubly pleased to find that Ann Althouse had done so not once, but twice.
The first of her post deals with an analysis of Keith Olbermann's rant against President Bush. She does a fine job ripping the poor speech writing to shreads. About the only thing I would have done differently would have been to quote Olbermann less--he doesn't deserve to have his rants receive more press. How far has Olbermann fallen? It makes me truly sad.
The second post deals with a direct analysis of President Bush's 9/11 anniversary speech. (Here we learn Olbermann's "reaction" was written before hearing the speech which makes his disdain all the more laughable.) In the end, I agree with Althouse's conclusion:
We must "work together to meet the test that history has given us." Note the passivity. I didn't choose this, history made me do it. And since it's history, you need to get in line, get serious. There's a core of that that I absolutely agree with. We're in a war, so we need to concentrate on winning, and you should only want to do the things that help. But I don't think the assertions here are going to convince anyone, and he's given his critics new material. They are going to resent and resist the demand that we perceive ourselves as caught up in a massive, historical ideological struggle.Sadly, I think she is spot on with this analysis. The people who hate Bush have already made up their mind and either didn't listen to the speech or only listened to find ammunition for the next round of rhetoric. The people who support him might agree with what he said but be rather bored with hearing it all again.
