Obama's Speech - A New National Focus

Tonight, President Obama delivered the most important speech of his young presidency. He could have spoken to a joint session of Congress, or behind his desk in the Oval Office. Instead, he looked several thousand West Point Cadets square in the eye and promised them that their lives and their immense sacrifice will be used to protect the safety and security of the United States. Beyond that, I believe he began turning the final page on Iraq and turned our national attention back to what was, for a time, the period of our greatest unity: preventing another catastrophic terrorist attack through responsible force and effective diplomacy.

I will post my full analysis of his strategy soon. Tonight, I just can't get over the impact this speech will have on our national unity. He couldn't have been less partisan, or more serious about how significant this decision is to him. For a moment, I saw a country full of diverse Americans with the Democrat or Republican label stripped away. For a split second, I saw ourselves as a united people listening to our Commander in Chief lead us in a direction of purpose and hope after so many years of bitter partisanship and petty selfishness commanding our national discourse.

I have a different feeling about our country tonight, and about my place in it. I sense a door being closed behind us on the past years of these two wars. Tonight, President Obama opened for us a new door of purpose and direction; one that leads to respect for our men and women in uniform and a defense of the common values that created a United States of the people, by the people, and for the people. Tonight was President Obama's finest hour. He showed us why we were so right to place our own, our children's and our grandchildren's futures in his hands.