Obama's Afghanistan Speech
Tonight,
President Obama will give his long-awaited
speech on his Afghanistan strategy, and he’ll
do so from West Point. There will be much said
about his strategy in the coming days. But,
today, I wonder what would have happened if the
president had chosen to give his speech before
a crowd of young campaign supporters, rather
than before the nation’s best warriors.
Here’s why I ask.
Dana Millbank in this morning’s Washington Post reported that until the presidency of George W. Bush, most presidents had given very few speeches before men and women in military uniform. One can only guess that President Obama has chosen West Point because he wants to look strong. I also suspect he did so because he wants to look the young men and women he plans to send in harm’s way right in the eye as he lays out his thinking. If that’s the case, then I applaud his actions.
But I wonder how this moment might be different if the president were to speak tonight before a crowd of adoring former twenty-something campaign workers and supporters. I’ve said in the past that all leaders should go before tough crowds at least three times a year to talk about why they hold the positions they do – and to engage in a conversation about those views. Well, I think this is one of those moments for the president: a crowd that once supported him, but now may have doubts.
I realize that the President’s chief job tonight is to “sell” the American people on his new strategy. I know his staff will be closely watching overnight polling numbers, and may have various organizations like the Democratic National Committee convene focus groups to score the president’s speech and make suggestions about how he can clarify various points. What’s more, there will be a whole host of domestic and foreign allies lined up with “talking points” to vouch for the president’s new approach.
But, as you listen tonight, instead of a vast sea of young uniformed men and women, imagine you saw a vast sea of young Obama supporters. What then would the president need to say to these young supporters about the kind of nation and world his policies seek to create? How then might the president seek to justify the direction he plans to go?
As I write these words I am reminded of the night when my now 19-year old daughter came home from an Obama rally at the University of Maryland and how genuinely moved she was by what the then-candidate had to say, and by the very sense of connection she felt with others in the crowd. It was on that night that politics and public life became real for her. Her story is the story of so many young Americans.
My suggestion here is not about how the President can keep young Americans engaged in politics, though that’s important. Nor is it that the president must find a way to “spin” his policies for his young supporters. Instead, in speaking to his young supporters he would need to articulate his policies in the broadest sense – not as a “war-time president,” but as the nation’s president; not to look strong, but to be strong; not to enlist the troops, but to gain support for the troops.
Afghanistan, like so many key issues, is a test case for how we choose to move ahead as a nation – both in terms of who we are and who we want to become. Speaking before young supporters would require being clear about that.
Tonight,
President Obama will give his long-awaited
speech on his Afghanistan strategy, and he’ll
do so from West Point. There will be much said
about his strategy in the coming days. But,
today, I wonder what would have happened if the
president had chosen to give his speech before
a crowd of young campaign supporters, rather
than before the nation’s best warriors.
Here’s why I ask.
Dana Millbank in this morning’s Washington Post reported that until the presidency of George W. Bush, most presidents had given very few speeches before men and women in military uniform. One can only guess that President Obama has chosen West Point because he wants to look strong. I also suspect he did so because he wants to look the young men and women he plans to send in harm’s way right in the eye as he lays out his thinking. If that’s the case, then I applaud his actions.
But I wonder how this moment might be different if the president were to speak tonight before a crowd of adoring former twenty-something campaign workers and supporters. I’ve said in the past that all leaders should go before tough crowds at least three times a year to talk about why they hold the positions they do – and to engage in a conversation about those views. Well, I think this is one of those moments for the president: a crowd that once supported him, but now may have doubts.
I realize that the President’s chief job tonight is to “sell” the American people on his new strategy. I know his staff will be closely watching overnight polling numbers, and may have various organizations like the Democratic National Committee convene focus groups to score the president’s speech and make suggestions about how he can clarify various points. What’s more, there will be a whole host of domestic and foreign allies lined up with “talking points” to vouch for the president’s new approach.
But, as you listen tonight, instead of a vast sea of young uniformed men and women, imagine you saw a vast sea of young Obama supporters. What then would the president need to say to these young supporters about the kind of nation and world his policies seek to create? How then might the president seek to justify the direction he plans to go?
As I write these words I am reminded of the night when my now 19-year old daughter came home from an Obama rally at the University of Maryland and how genuinely moved she was by what the then-candidate had to say, and by the very sense of connection she felt with others in the crowd. It was on that night that politics and public life became real for her. Her story is the story of so many young Americans.
My suggestion here is not about how the President can keep young Americans engaged in politics, though that’s important. Nor is it that the president must find a way to “spin” his policies for his young supporters. Instead, in speaking to his young supporters he would need to articulate his policies in the broadest sense – not as a “war-time president,” but as the nation’s president; not to look strong, but to be strong; not to enlist the troops, but to gain support for the troops.
Afghanistan, like so many key issues, is a test case for how we choose to move ahead as a nation – both in terms of who we are and who we want to become. Speaking before young supporters would require being clear about that.