Bush's 9/11/06 Speech -- Partisan?

I did not get to watch Bush's speech last night live. Indeed, I forgot that he was going to be speaking, as I was doing my best to avoid the whole 9/11 rehash. I saw it when it happened on TV in 2001, thank you very much, and I remember the horror, and those kinds of things really spook me. Really. Not looking for a replay.

Besides, I figured it would probably just be a mushy speech memoralizing the 9/11 victims, telling Americans, "Hey, me and my administration are doing all we can, blah, blah, blah." No new policy announcements, etc.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I hopped onto CNN late this afternoon to see the reaction -- and lo and behold, there is an outcry from the Democrats about how "partisan" Bush's speech was. He's using his bully pulpit to defend his policy in Iraq, even though Iraq has nothing to do with 9/11, they cry!

Okay, I think. I'll go watch it. Thank goodness, CNN had the video of the entire speech -- just over sixteen minutes -- on their website.

I did not find Bush's speech to be very partisan at all. Yes, he took the opportunity to defend his controversial policies in Iraq, but if he had not, it is likely that the Democrats would have -- I think rightfully -- pounced on the omission as an attempt by the President to skirt an issue that is on every American's mind: what are we doing in Iraq, and what does it have to do with the events of September 11? Bush needed to either defend the relevancy of Iraq, or else renounce his administration's position in light of the current situation. I think it does a disservice to the memory of the victims of the 9/11 tragedy to ignore the glaring issue of Iraq in the name of avoiding partisanship. No, I think the Democrats and other dissidents of the administration's Iraq policy are not annoyed at "partisanship" in his speech so much as they are about his policy, period. As I said, ignoring it would have generated a different kind of criticism; the only way for Bush to have made his Iraq critics happy last night would be to have announced an about face on Iraq.

It should not be considered "partisan" for a President to explain and defend his administration's policies, or to try to convince the American people of the wisdom of those policies. I suspect the anger is probably just frustration from policy critics who don't have the power of the President's office (the President's "bully pulpit", as Sen Harry Reid reminded us) to get their views out.