Lileks at "The Bleat" on Blair. I gather the major media ignored it. Too bad. One of the best things so far this year.
>>>Impressive speech by Blair today. I wonder how much press it will get. It sounded not at all like a Bush peroration, but when you pare away the accent you realize that both men are best suited by words that are tart, blunt, stark, and resolute. Not to say there aren't differences - Blair's speeches sound like the work of a keen and fierce intellect that has come to a certain conclusion by logical deduction. His heart has been informed by his head. In the case of Bush I think it's the other way around. I suppose that's the difference between being the leader of a nation that was attacked, and the leader of a nation whose ally was assaulted. What I found most invigorating about the speech was the tenor - the tune, not the notes. It was a speech sung in the key of War, and reminded us that we are just midway through the end of the beginning. If that.
Blair is, at heart, a socialist; I've no time for half the stuff he wants and most of the stuff he'd agree to. But he'd get my vote. We can argue about the shape and direction of Western Civ after we've made sure that such a thing will endure. I haven't heard every single speech Tony Blair has made since he popped on to the political scene; I don't know if he argues for increased license fees for domestic gerbils with the same passion and force. But today he sounded like a man who knew things, who knows that the threat is still grave, and cannot understand why others seek transient political advantage in exploiting those sixteen words. The people are worried, your majesty! "Oh, let them eat yellowcake."
When I hear a speech like Blair's, I have to check the calendar. And the calendar is usually wrong. It may say 2/23, or 7/16, or 4/30. But I know what the date is, and the date is 9/12. It's going to be 9/12 for a long time to come.
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