I won't keep you in suspense. Here are what struck me as the central bits.
I have made it clear to Preisdent Karazi and Afghanistan's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended. If the Afghan government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people -- and it will lose the support of the Afghani people. Now is the time to act.
A successful strategy for Afghanistan goes beyond military operations. Ordinary Afghani citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighborhoods and communities. So America will hold the Afghan government to the benchmarks it has announced.
Our troops will have a well-defined mission: To help Afghanis clear and secure neighborhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Afghani forces left behind are capable of providing the security that the country needs. . . . We will help Afghani build a larger and better-equipped army -- and we will accelerate the training of Afghani forces, which remains the essential U.S. security mission in Afghanistan.
We will give our commanders and civilians greater flexibility to spend funds for economic assistance. We will double the number of provincial reconstruction teams. These teams bring together military and civilian experts to help local Afghani communities pursue reconciliation, strengthen moderates, and speed the transition to Afghani self reliance.
As we make these changes, we will continue to pursue al Qaeda and foreign fighters. Al Qaeda is still active in Afghanistan. ... A captured al Qaeda document describes the terrorists' plan to infiltrate and seize control of the province. This would bring al Qaeda closer to its goals of taking down Afghanistan's democracy, building a radical Islamic empire and launching new attacks on the United States at home and abroad.
... millions of ordinary people are sick of the violence and want a future of peace and opportunity for their children. And they are looking at Afghanistan. They want to know: Will America withdraw and yield the future of that country to the extremists -- or will we stand with the Afghanis who have made the choice for freedom?
If we increase our support at this crucial moment, and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home.
OK, I lied. That's not a leaked copy of Obama's speech. Substitute "Afghanistan" for "Iraq", etc., and those are all statements by George W. Bush about our other war.
Maybe you weren't fooled. But I hope you'll remember this during the speech tonight. See whether there's a sickeningly familiar ring to Obama's platitudes. And then decide whether you're going to believe the bullshit this time because, after all, this time it's a Democrat.