Barack Obama officially declares the Iraq war over in his Oval Office speech

  In his Oval Office speech to America tonight, Barack Obama has officially declared that the Iraq war is over.

  Before I go any further, I would first like to thank our troops; your courage, patriotism, dedication, sacrifice, and unselfishness are appreciated more than you will ever know and I cannot put into words how much you are loved and admired here. Thank you for all that you do. Without you I would not be free to sit here and do what I do on a daily basis.

  I have to admit that Barack Obama’s speech tonight was better than I had expected it to be–but then again, I didn’t expect much.

I was glad to see Barack Obama pay a tribute of sorts to President Bush–mentioning the former president’s patriotism, love of country, and admiration of the troops–however he fell short of giving President Bush the credit that he deserved for both the surge strategy–that Barack Obama admittedly opposed– which secured this victory, or President Bush’s timetable for withdrawal that Barack Obama adhered to in order to officially declare this war over.

   In light of how freely he falsely reminds the American people that this economy is all Bush’s fault, it would have been nice to see him give full credit where credit is due for the success of the Iraq war. It is true that President Bush waited too long to send the proper amount of troops to Iraq, but once he did the successful conclusion of this war was all but assured. For someone who is so willing to point the finger at others for the problems he is now coping with, he was unwilling to point the finger toward the man that ultimately made tonight’s speech possible.

  He did however try to compare his Afghanistan war policy with President Bush’s surge policy in Iraq by admitting that he is basically following the same plan in Afghanistan, so I suppose that this is an admission of sorts that it was President Bush’s decision to send in more troops that ultimately led to Barack Obama’s declaration of victory. 

  I also found it a little disingenuous for Barack Obama to talk about the trillion dollars this war cost and the deficits rendered because of the war, when we learned last week that Barack Obama’s stimulus package cost more than almost ten years of war and added even more to the deficit. There was no mention of the costs of his own policies in his speech tonight, nor did I expect there to be.

  Barack Obama spoke glowingly of our brave heroes in the field, mentioning the fact that they met every challenge and mission  that was assigned to them head-on, never wavered even as support at home did, and achieved all that was asked of them. He talked about their valor, honor, committment, and unselfishness, and in this regard I could not agree with Barack Obama anymore.

  Once again I would like to thank all of those who serve this country, and say to all of those who have fought in Iraq–thank you and congratulations on a job well done!