What You Need To Know About Obama's Speech (Debate?) Today

1. Tone, tone, tone. Obama's unmatched oratorical skill is not news. Although his style ranges from inspirational to didactic, equanimity is his trademark. It's sometimes difficult to detect emotion. Not today. The President was forceful, defensive and at times blunt, vigorously explaining his policy and decisions. Today we saw the President as close to angry as we've seen him. "As Commander-in-Chief, I see the intelligence.  I bear the responsibility for keeping this country safe.  And I categorically reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation," he stated with unusual force, emphaszing the "I" in each sentence. Obama stayed true to his proclivity to explicate his thinking - indeed he was perhaps at his logical best -  but this was Obama in take no prisoners mode. He was unequivocal, unapolegetic and unfazed by his critics, appealing above the noise to the the level-headedness of Americans in the knowledge that he is his own best messenger.

2. Republicans were squarely implicated. Obama has no intention of shouldering the blame for "the mess" as he put it, in Guantanamo and on interrogations. After a long introduction (the most flowery part of his speech - lots of language about history and morality) where he chastized the previous administration's "ad hoc" post 9-11 decision making, he mentioned Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham by name, indicating that they agree with him on substantive parts of his policy. He referred to President Bush mulitple times, implying his decision had been motivated by fear not foresight. Time and again he noted that some of the talking points Republicans have been using against him, like the idea that once freed, detainees often return to radical groups, are problems created by his predecessor. He stated that the decision to release 17 Uighar detainees took place under Bush and that 19 of the 21 cases where courts have ordered detainees to be released were decided before he took office. "We are acutely aware that under the last administration, detainees were released and, in some cases, returned to the battlefield," the President said, addressing the New York Times report today. "That's why we are doing away with the poorly planned, haphazard approach that let those detainees go in the past. Instead we are treating these cases with the care and attention that the law requires and that our security demands." But perhaps the most heavy hitting paragraph, and the one delivered most emphatically, was this one:

For over seven years, we have detained hundreds of people at Guantanamo. During that time, the system of military commissions that were in place at Guantanamo succeeded in convicting a grand total of three suspected terrorists.  Let me repeat that:  three convictions in over seven years.  Instead of bringing terrorists to justice, efforts at prosecution met setback after setback, cases lingered on, and in 2006 the Supreme Court invalidated the entire system. Meanwhile, over 525 detainees were released from Guantanamo under not my administration, under the previous administration.  Let me repeat that:  Two-thirds of the detainees were released before I took office and ordered the closure of Guantanamo.

3. Obama won't be pandering to the left on national security. Those who hoped for a mea culpa on military commissions or abusive photos got a rude awakening. Obama was straightforward and unrepentant about both decisions, reiterating his established reasoning. Where his was perhaps most firm with supporters on the left was in his opposition to an independent commission. "Some Americans are angry; others want to re-fight debates that have been settled, in some cases debates that they have lost," he said. "I've opposed the creation of such a commission because I believe that our existing democratic institutions are strong enough to deliver accountability.  The Congress can review abuses of our values, and there are ongoing inquiries by the Congress into matters like enhanced interrogation techniques.  The Department of Justice and our courts can work through and punish any violations of our laws or miscarriages of justice."   

4. When it comes to the politics of closing Guantanamo, Obama will call a spade a shovel. For someone reknowned for using high-fallutin' language, he didn't mince words about the politics being played on Capitol Hill.  "We will be ill-served by some of the fear-mongering that emerges whenever we discuss this issue.  Listening to the recent debate, I've heard words that, frankly, are calculated to scare people rather than educate them; words that have more to do with politics than protecting our country," he said. And later "Now, as our efforts to close Guantanamo move forward, I know that the politics in Congress will be difficult. These are issues that are fodder for 30-second commercials.  You can almost picture the direct mail pieces that emerge from any vote on this issue -- designed to frighten the population.  I get it.  But if we continue to make decisions within a climate of fear, we will make more mistakes.  And if we refuse to deal with these issues today, then I guarantee you that they will be an albatross around our efforts to combat terrorism in the future." And when the President said "I get it", there was no doubt he did. Never have those three words sounded more like a threat.