Who knew President Obama had one more rockstar welcome up his sleeve? AP reports the president was “cheered wildly” today when he spoke to and met with U.S. forces in Iraq. Much better than being fawned over by Europeans, right?
About six weeks ago, the president delivered what I thought was a very impressive speech on the future of Iraq policy. His remarks were most notable for their tone of victory rather than the defeatist language that plagued so much Democratic rhetoric on Iraq for so long. The change was due to substantial improvements in Iraq as a result of the surge strategy, and also to Mr. Obama’s growth from candidate to president.
Today, in his unannounced visit to Iraq, President Obama reprised the themes of that February speech, thanking service members and lauding them not just for their sacrifice, but for their success — a success that makes future political achievements possible.
The president also reiterated that the job isn’t done. The country is much more stable than it was a year ago (and certainly two years ago), but now political progress must match security progress, and that will require more effort by U.S. forces:
[Y]ou will be critical in terms of us being able to make sure that Iraq is stable, that it is not a safe haven for terrorists, that it is a good neighbor and a good ally, and we can start bringing our folks home.
So now is not the time to lose focus. We have to be even more focused than we’ve been in order to achieve success.
Sounds a lot like George Bush, right down to the “folks.”
The president also used a good term to describe what the ongoing U.S. relationship should be with Iraq: “stalwart partner.”
In separate remarks to reporters, the president said one of the reasons he visited Iraq was that “we spend a lot of time trying to get Afghanistan right, but I think it is important for people to know that there is still a lot of work to do here.”
Man, who would have thought two years ago that things would be going so well in Iraq the president would have to remind people that the mission continues? Let’s hope he soon faces the same challenge with Afghanistan.
