He celebrated Israel's anniversary in the face of adversity, tremendous challenges, and existential threats, and he further issued a warning about the folly of appeasement.
The full text of the speech is here, but this is the part that has got Democrats all up in a full-bore snit, though I'll get to them in a minute.
The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of our time. It is more than a clash of arms. It is a clash of visions, a great ideological struggle. On the one side are those who defend the ideals of justice and dignity with the power of reason and truth. On the other side are those who pursue a narrow vision of cruelty and control by committing murder, inciting fear, and spreading lies.The section in bold is the part that got the dim bulbs in the Democrat party thinking that it applied to Barack Obama. Sen. Joe Biden suggested that the President's comments were b***s**t and malarkey. Funny, but Biden didn't exactly express any opinion over repeated visits by former President Carter when he met with Hamas terrorists on multiple occasions last month, engaging in renegade foreign diplomacy.
This struggle is waged with the technology of the 21st century, but at its core it is an ancient battle between good and evil. The killers claim the mantle of Islam, but they are not religious men. No one who prays to the God of Abraham could strap a suicide vest to an innocent child, or blow up guiltless guests at a Passover Seder, or fly planes into office buildings filled with unsuspecting workers. In truth, the men who carry out these savage acts serve no higher goal than their own desire for power. They accept no God before themselves. And they reserve a special hatred for the most ardent defenders of liberty, including Americans and Israelis.
And that is why the founding charter of Hamas calls for the "elimination" of Israel. And that is why the followers of Hezbollah chant "Death to Israel, Death to America!" That is why Osama bin Laden teaches that "the killing of Jews and Americans is one of the biggest duties." And that is why the President of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped off the map.
There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It's natural, but it is deadly wrong. As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century.
Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history. (Applause.)
Some people suggest if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away. This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of the enemies of peace, and America utterly rejects it. Israel's population may be just over 7 million. But when you confront terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because the United States of America stands with you. (Applause.)
America stands with you in breaking up terrorist networks and denying the extremists sanctuary. America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions. Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapons would be an unforgivable betrayal for future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. (Applause.)
I didn't hear him complain about Rep. Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria where she feted Bashar Assad, whose regime is behind much of the ongoing turmoil and violence in Lebanon. All that talking and appeasement didn't get very far either. Heck, Pelosi must have a short memory given that she panned the President's speech despite her clear attempts at diplomacy with Syria and attacking the President while outside the US.
Indeed, President Carter's talking with Hamas didn't accomplish anything, except a higher body count as Hamas and the other terrorists continue firing rockets on Israel on a daily basis.
Of course, Barack Obama thought that President Bush was talking about him. Thank you for expressing those views Obama - you very succinctly made the President's point for him (to say nothing of what Hillary has been saying about you for some time now). Obama also has a penchant for using Marxist phrasing, including the repeated quote "politics of fear" to describe what President Bush said today.
"George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."Indeed, Obama is a bald-faced-liar, as his website indicates that Obama would negotiate with Iran without any preconditions. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, aids and abets Hizbullah and Hamas, and whose leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel.
Michelle Malkin suggests that Obama should calm down, but if the shoe fits. (it does - all too well). Bob Owens notes that it would be a whole lot more believable if Obama's political career wasn't launched in the homes of Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Ed Morrissey also weighs in.
Joe Lieberman knows what's what, and applauded the President's speech.
Appeasement is a tremendous folly, and no matter who tries it and no matter their good intentions, terrorists, thugs, dictators, and evil regimes will take advantage of such measures and the violence hoped to be avoided will come, but at a greater cost. Just ask Elie Wiesel. He was at the Knesset today, and he applauded the speech as well.
The costs of appeasement are too high.
Rick Moran takes the Democrats to task for being so thin skinned and further wonders whether there are any grownups in the Party.
Then, you have completely indescribable nonsensical ravings such as this from pundits who wouldn't know treason if the Logan Act hit them upside the head.
And before you think that the speech about appeasement was directly solely at Obama, consider that it too was directed at Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and other leftists in Israel who are more than willing to make all manner of concessions without getting anything concrete in return.
Meanwhile, the media has run stories not about the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary in a very bad part of the world despite repeated attempts to eliminate it from the world, but has instead focused on the lies and agitprop proffered by the Palestinians. They refer to this as the naqba (nakba) or catastrophe. The media is all too willing to run these stories to the exclusion of positive stories about Israel, to say nothing of the fact that many of the stories included are bald-faced lies.
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