Obama Stumps for Bipartisanship in Iraq Speech

Written by Pat's Papers | Wednesday, 1 September 2010 8:02 AM

President Obama used last night’s speech announcing the end of the US combat mission in Iraq to drive home a lesson about bipartisanship says the Washington Post. Sitting at the same desk where former President Bush declared war seven years earlier, the president said, “the greatness of our democracy is grounded in our ability to move beyond our differences, and to learn from our experience as we confront the many challenges ahead.”

Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz says President Obama made several mistakes during his speech last night. The first was his timing. Though the official withdrawal of US forces from Iraq was slated for August 31, the event took place (and was covered extensively) a few weeks ago.

The second, says Kurtz, was the simple fact that Americans aren’t focused on what’s going on in Iraq right now. The third and possibly the most damning is that the violence continues in Iraq, making it impossible for Obama to claim victory.

Kurtz says the president navigated the sticky points by mentioning the “long and painful recession” early on in his speech, a tactic that made pundits on the right insist he’s treating “Iraq as a distraction from the business of remaking America.” On the left, pundits were upset that Obama let former President Bush off the hook for his role in starting to war.

Kurtz uses his column to build a nice summary of the media’s reaction to the president’s speech.