Rep. Joe Barton | My Amplog

President Obama spoke 4,582 words in his prime-time Afghanistan war speech at West Point last night. He said “Al Qaeda” 22 times. He mentioned the “Taliban” 12 times. And here’s how many times the Democratic chief executive used the word “victory” — 0. That telling omission says more than anything about Obama’s 322nd day in office, when he gave his first major address as the United States’ commander in chief. Through a clever, timely use of leaks late Monday and suggestive advance excerpts Tuesday afternoon, the Obama White House communications team used the public’s and the news media’s intense curiosity about his war decisions to steer public attention toward the number of additional American troops he’ll dispatch into that war-torn land in the first half of 2010. That number is 30,000, significantly less than some reported numbers requested by the ground commander. But added to the existing 68,000 there and taken out of context, that would appear … Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com