RUSH: Rather than just play bites from the speech last night, we want to play bites from the president’s March 27th speech at the Executive Office Building when he made a speech on Afghanistan and contrast that with a similar area of the speech last night at West Point. So in March, he was convinced of the danger of letting the ‘Tal-ee-bahn,’ as he says, have the country.
OBAMA MARCH 27TH: Al-Qaeda and its allies, the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks, are in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that Al-Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States homeland from a safe haven in Pakistan. And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban or allows Al-Qaeda to go unchallenged, that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill some of our people as they possibly can.
RUSH: Last night he sounded less convinced, even though HE said he was convinced.
OBAMA DECEMBER 1ST: …I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by Al-Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat. In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror. And this danger will only grow if the region slides backwards, and Al-Qaeda can operate with impunity.
RUSH: Okay, so one of the things you’re going to conclude is you listen to these side-by-side is: ‘No wonder he sounded so bored last night, he’s given the speech before! He gave it before.’ Now, March 27th, 2009, here’s another side-by-side comparison.
OBAMA MARCH 27TH: For six years Afghanistan has been denied the resources that it demands because of the war in Iraq. Now we must make a commitment that can accomplish our goals.
RUSH: All right. So it was bash Bush time in March. Here it is from last night…
OBAMA DECEMBER 1ST: The Iraq war drew the dominant share of our troops, our resources, our diplomacy, and our national attention — and that the decision to go into Iraq caused substantial rifts between America and much of the world.
RUSH: So he’s given the speech before. Here the final two, March 27th, 2009, we have ‘a clear and focused goal.’
OBAMA MARCH 27TH: We have a clear and focused goal: To interrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future. That’s the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just.
RUSH: Now, last night…
OBAMA DECEMBER 1ST: Our overarching goal remains the same: To disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future.
RUSH: All right, now, here’s the question that occurs to me, ladies and gentlemen. The speeches are identical. As you just heard, they are identical. Same amount of passion, same strategery, same words. And so the question occurs to me, your host, is: What took a hundred days to figure out strategy? It’s the same speech, almost word-for-word in sections from last March! So what took 100 days from the request by General McChrystal? And I’ll tell you what took 100 days. It’s exactly what we were told by Richard Benedetto in USA Today. He was making it look like he was studying the issue, deliberating, taking comments of all sides, listening to every bit of advice. It’s so crucial Obama was seeking the best and brightest he had access to! He gave the same speech, same speech last night that he gave in March. It didn’t require 100 days. The strategy last night was no different than the strategy in March. In fact, there was no strategy. There were a couple of objectives, but no strategy. The only thing different about last night, from March, was we got a withdrawal date of summer 2011.