Media reacts to 'passionate' Bush

By Matthew Davis
BBC News, Washington

Commentators from across the political spectrum are drawing different conclusions from President Bush's latest speech in which he defended his Iraq strategy and called for patience.

President Bush made a passionate appeal to Americans

But most agree that it was a passionate attempt to seize back public support for the war on terror.

MSNBC political correspondent Bob Kur described the address as "an emotional speech" in which the president sought to take on terrorist leaders, "but also sought to take on the critics at home".

"It wasn't what you would call a routine speech," Mr Kur said.

"The president was forceful, his rhetoric was pretty sharp. It was a speech he wanted to make closer to the anniversary of 9/11 - but hurricane duty got in the way."

But he added: "Two-and-a-half years after launching the war, he [Mr Bush] is still trying to make his best case for it."

For CNN's David Ensor it was "a speech about passion, a well-crafted and passionate speech, making an appeal, an ideological attack on al-Qaeda rather than a speech about hard facts".

Brian Knowlton, writing on the New York Times website, said: "President Bush used some of his toughest language today to assert that the war in Iraq was vital to a crucial struggle against terrorists who he said intended to build a 'totalitarian empire' of global reach.

"By citing such numbers and cases, but without offering further specifics, President Bush appeared to be seeking to focus attention on the sweep, high stakes and successes of the antiterrorism campaign at a time when the war in Iraq has become increasingly unpopular and has opened divides even in Mr Bush's own Republican Party."

The Washington Post's William Branigin noted: "In an effort to bolster his case among Muslims that terrorism is against their religion, Bush quoted a verse from the Koran and a recent statement by a Muslim religious leader in the United Arab Emirates."

Blogs

For the right-wing blog Little Green Footballs there was "still quite a bit of political eggshell-walking".

"But this marks the first time that Bush has identified and described the real goals of radical Islam: to re-establish the mythical caliphate and the global dominance of Islam."

Duncan Black on the blog Eschaton noted that some commentators had described the president's speech as "about fear-mongering".

"That could be it, but I think that narrative has sort of passed us by for the moment," he wrote.

"Not that people aren't genuinely concerned about this stuff, but we've finally passed the stage when jumping up and shouting 'evil-doers!' will get the desired response.

"I think it's more about letting Bush do something he enjoys for a change. And what he seems to enjoy doing most of all is giving speeches about evil-doers."

Bob Burnett, a commentator on the left-leaning Huffington Post website was more direct in his criticism.

"President Bush isn't going to change his mind about Iraq; he's a failed CEO incapable of learning from his mistakes.

"The only way for the American people to alter the course of the Iraqi occupation is to bypass Bush and convince Congress to represent the will of the electorate."