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“Unfortunately, over the last decade, we’ve not done what’s necessary to shore up the foundations of our own prosperity. We spent a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits. For too long, we have put off tough decisions on everything from our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform. As a result, too many middle-class families find themselves working harder for less, while our nation’s long-term competitiveness is put at risk.
“And so at this moment, as we wind down the war in Iraq, we must tackle those challenges at home with as much energy, and grit, and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad. They have met every test that they faced. Now, it’s our turn. Now, it’s our responsibility to honor them by coming together, all of us, and working to secure the dream that so many generations have fought for -- the dream that a better life awaits anyone who is willing to work for it and reach for it.”
— President Barack Obama, speech to the nation, August 31, 2010
“And so at this moment, as we wind down the war in Iraq, we must tackle those challenges at home with as much energy, and grit, and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad. They have met every test that they faced. Now, it’s our turn. Now, it’s our responsibility to honor them by coming together, all of us, and working to secure the dream that so many generations have fought for -- the dream that a better life awaits anyone who is willing to work for it and reach for it.”
— President Barack Obama, speech to the nation, August 31, 2010
Change we can believe in. …
He has signed the largest economic stimulus bill in American history, long sought health care, major education funding reform, broad financial services reform and now he has turned the page on the Iraq war.
God bless President Obama.
Excerpted from “Obama speech, August 31: pays tribute to troops, refocuses on economy; The president repeated pledges about drawing down troops next year in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But much of the Obama speech, August 31, had a theme of refocusing American energies on the home front.” By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer, The Christian Science Monitor, September 1, 2010
[SIZE="+2"]P[/SIZE]resident Obama Tuesday night told an American public weary of war that it is time to “turn the page” on the war in Iraq. And although he said the formal end of US combat operations in Iraq would allow the military to turn fuller attention to the war in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama also repeated his pledge to begin a drawdown of troops in Afghanistan next summer.
In what was only the second prime-time address of his presidency from the White House, Obama appeared to acknowledge that he was speaking to an audience that is now much more preoccupied with the state of the economy than with the two wars he inherited. From the outset of the Obama speech on August 31, the president set a theme of refocusing American energies on the home front. …