Der Spiegel: fun to say, fun to read

Do I think this article is good because I just like saying the name of the German magazine, Der Spiegel? I'll admit, that's part of it.
The other is the pure visceral tongue-lashing writer Gabor Steingart (also a fun name to pronounce though less so than Der Spiegel) gives Obama and his robotic fanatics - Chris Matthews, we're talking about you - who refuse to accept the reality coming out of the President's mouth and instead worship the motion of his lips. Or the thrill he sends up their leg.

Even as a teenager with posters of Corey Haim on my wall, I wasn't as pathetic.

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.

More false than usual? Can plastic become more plasticy?

One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received.

Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool.

Less like RealityTV and more like a game show, speeches by our President now require cues to the audience for applause.

One didn't have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama's speech.

Heck, Obama can make me nauseous and he doesn't even need to speak.

It was the least truthful address that he has ever held.

Again, levels of truth? Can one go from lying to being more lying'ly?

He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly.

We're not sure either, only that it involves every American, unless your name is Barack. Very common name here.

An additional 30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan -- and then they will march right back out again. America is going to war -- and from there it will continue ahead to peace. It was the speech of a Nobel War Prize laureate.

But think of all that healthy exercise the troops will be getting.

Just in Time for the Campaign

For each troop movement, Obama had a number to match. US strength in Afghanistan will be tripled relative to the Bush years, a fact that is sure to impress hawks in America. But just 18 months later, just in time for Obama's re-election campaign, the horror of war is to end and the draw down will begin. The doves of peace will be let free.

And just in time for Christmas, a red-light special on carbon credits. Buy your family the right to breathe this holiday season.

The speech continued in that vein. It was as though Obama had taken one of his old campaign speeches and merged it with a text from the library of ex-President George W. Bush. Extremists kill in the name of Islam, he said, before adding that it is one of the "world's great religions." He promised that responsibility for the country's security would soon be transferred to the government of President Hamid Karzai -- a government which he said was "corrupt." The Taliban is dangerous and growing stronger. But "America will have to show our strength in the way that we end wars," he added.

For every Obama statement, there is an equal and opposite restatement.

It was a dizzying combination of surge and withdrawal, of marching to and fro.

Again, exercise. This isn't about fighting terror but fighting carbs.

The fast pace was reminiscent of plays about the French revolution: Troops enter from the right to loud cannon fire and then they exit to the left. And at the end, the dead are left on stage.

That sounds like one sucky play.

Obama's Magic No Longer Works

But in this case, the public was more disturbed than entertained.

These things happen when 116 Americans die while waiting on reinforcements and Obama's busy playing golf.

Indeed, one could see the phenomenon in a number of places in recent weeks: Obama's magic no longer works. The allure of his words has grown weaker.

Maybe he just needs to reread the Harry Potter series.

It is not he himself who has changed, but rather the benchmark used to evaluate him. For a president, the unit of measurement is real life.

Not rhetoric? Bummer.

A leader is seen by citizens through the prism of their lives -- their job, their household budget, where they live and suffer. And, in the case of the war on terror, where they sometimes die.

We're kind of sticklers about those things.

Political dreams and yearnings for the future belong elsewhere. That was where the political charmer Obama was able to successfully capture the imaginations of millions of voters. It is a place where campaigners -- particularly those with a talent for oration -- are fond of taking refuge. It is also where Obama set up his campaign headquarters, in an enormous tent called "Hope."

That's the thing about tents, their only good when the weather is perfectly moderate. Otherwise, they are a lousy substitute for four solid, boring, impenetrable walls and a roof with integrity.

In his speech on America's new Afghanistan strategy, Obama tried to speak to both places. It was two speeches in one. That is why it felt so false. Both dreamers and realists were left feeling distraught.

And bored. And ticked because he forced the Charlie Brown Christmas special off the air.

The American president doesn't need any opponents at the moment. He's already got himself.

And the two of them are in love. That complicates things a bit.