I was impressed with President Obama’s speech at West Point last night. He clearly explained why he was sending an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, he explained what they would do there, and he explained when they would come home. He also anticipated objections to the troop buildup and responded to them. From a U.S. Role standpoint, I was particularly impressed by the way he placed the effort in Afghanistan in the historical context of U.S. world leadership:
Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, and the service and sacrifice of our grandparents and great-grandparents, our country has borne a special burden in global affairs. We have spilled American blood in many countries on multiple continents. We have spent our revenue to help others rebuild from rubble and develop their own economies. We have joined with others to develop an architecture of institutions — from the United Nations to NATO to the World Bank — that provide for the common security and prosperity of human beings.
We have not always been thanked for these efforts, and we have at times made mistakes. But more than any other nation, the United States of America has underwritten global security for over six decades — a time that, for all its problems, has seen walls come down, and markets open, and billions lifted from poverty, unparalleled scientific progress and advancing frontiers of human liberty.
For unlike the great powers of old, we have not sought world domination. Our union was founded in resistance to oppression. We do not seek to occupy other nations. We will not claim another nation’s resources or target other peoples because their faith or ethnicity is different from ours. What we have fought for — what we continue to fight for — is a better future for our children and grandchildren. And we believe that their lives will be better if other peoples’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and access opportunity. (Applause.)
As a country, we’re not as young — and perhaps not as innocent — as we were when Roosevelt was President. Yet we are still heirs to a noble struggle for freedom. And now we must summon all of our might and moral suasion to meet the challenges of a new age.
Framing the effort in this way helps provide a sense of continuity between the victories of our past and the challenges ahead and while many questions remain to be answered, Obama’s speech defined the war in Afghanistan in a manner consistent with the traditional post-WWII view of the U.S. role in the world: We are a superpower doing those things that a superpower needs to do, not only for our own security, but for the security of the world.
If you missed the speech, the White House has archived the transcript and I’ve added the video below. Finally, I’d like to invite you to use the comments link to share your reaction to the speech. Did President Obama’s speech convince you that sending more troops to Afghanistan is the right thing to do?