Response to Obama speech

I really liked this speech, if for nothing else except for the lovely silence of the audience. While Obama made his health care speech, it was interrupted at least every 15 seconds with applause, and it was nice to hear him talk, uninterrupted, for such a long time as he did. I also liked the way he said Taliban ;), even though he pronounces it correctly, I guess I'm just not used to hearing it that way. Anyways, I support Obama's decision to send the 30,000 more troops to the area to train the Afghan police force, yet it is nowhere near enough. General McChrystal just upped the ante in October, increasing his request to over 60,000 troops, with 40,000 as the absolute minimum. As the general responsible for Afghanistan, McChrystal is more of an expert on the situation than Obama, and while it may have been political suicide to accept McChrystal's request, the lives of our troops and the prosperity of our country should come before political self-preservation. Also, there was a lot of "me me me" in this speech, and yes, while the speech is about his decision, it should mostly reflect the views of the American people. It should not be a time to dispel rumors or brag about his actions in the past and how he's right. To say some good things, he is a very charismatic speaker, and actually looked at the camera (which was exciting!). I'm just also wondering how he can drive out al-Qaeda if he doesn't have Pakistan's permission to go in. I understand that he's calling in some favors, but I don't believe that it will be enough. We need more troops, plain and simple. Overhauling an entire country and chasing al-Qaeda and the Taliban across the Middle East will take more than the approximate 108,000 troops in Afghanistan.