Well ...

President Bush was up for the task tonight, getting himself a check in every one of the secret "'great speech" check-boxes those of us who write speeches get from our secret society.

For all that, though, he got me at "Well ...." Let me explain.

Here's what the transcript said:

Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Here are the differences:

Here's how he delivered it:

Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, let me explain the differences:

That little "well ... [pause] ... " and then the personal "let me explain" following it made him sound remarkably like Ronald Reagan and I think he knew it. He said it with confidence, and the confidence stayed with him through the rest of the speech.

If he can maintain that delivery and that level of solid communication, it will help the war effort as much as the additional troops and the stronger commitment from the Iraqis.

The checkboxes:

• He took personal responsibility
• He spoke strongly about the intent of our enemy
• He explained a complex situation with clarity
• He reached out to opponents
• He reinforced the military strategy and sent a strong signal to our enemies
• And he did it all with a command presence.

One thing I really wanted to know, the changes that will be made in the rules of engagement, was missing, as it should have been. Any discussion of these changes would give the enemy an advantage -- so leave it to the press and the Dems to demand all the facts.

And that fact yielded the one very weak spot in the speech. Instead of quickly dropping the changes to the rules of engagement, he should have taken a moment to say why he wasn't discussing them, in order to build a pre-judging shame to reporters and politicians who push for more information.

Related Tags: Bush, War in Iraq, Bush speech, Surge