A Great Speech. Perhaps, as a non-American, I am less aware of the week by week, month by month ebb and flow of opinion polls and media opinion about an incumbent President like George W. Bush- but I thought it was a great speech W. gave last night. Not a B+, as Andrew Sullivan and Roger Simon gave it, but a straight A.

I can't say I was able to hear it live, but I've seen the video and read the transcript and it's a balanced, logical, detailed and serious piece of work that still manages to flourish a patriotic flag occasionally and look at the wider picture. One speech can only do so much but the impressive thing about it was the logic and the grasp of detail that Bush has so often been accused of lacking

A measure of a speech's success is whether it makes opponents pause for thought. The BBC's analysis from Bush-disliking Nick Childs was fairly low on the stinging sarcasm that's been the normal reaction to W's efforts (I doubt this will be the case in the TV reports- but more detail is required, and more authenticity, when the medium is the written word). Yes, there's the usual sort of spiel that the President 'ditches' plans (as opposed to adapting to unfolding situations) whereas bodies like the UN are merely 'sceptical' (as opposed to fussy and contrary)- the typical rhetorical contrasts- but overall you sense that the critic is a little becalmed. Even unfair critics have to be when an effective performance forestalls their usual criticisms.