The substance

It’s better than the style

Hard to blame the president of the United States for seeming tired. He’s in one of the world’s most stressful jobs, and he just flew back from a war zone on the other side of the world. But better to focus on what he said, the substance of his Oval Office address Thursday night, than the style. (Is that still done in modern America?)

And what he said was spot-on. Maybe the best speech of his career.

A body moved away from the TV Thursday night thinking that this president is going to support Israel in its efforts to combat terrorism, just as Israel (and other allies) supported the United States after Sept. 11, 2001.

But unlike some, the president also went out of his way to acknowledge that “Hamas” doesn’t equate to “Palestinian people.” Any more than the terrorists who hijacked planes two decades ago over this country equated to their countrymen and religion. It was hard to be more proud than the day after Sept. 11 in this country, when so many Americans chose to go out of their way to soothe, support and patronize Muslim Americans and their families, neighborhoods and businesses. “The terrorist group Hamas unleashed pure, unadulterated evil in the world,” President Biden said Thursday night. “But sadly, the Jewish people know, perhaps better than anyone, that there is no limit to the depravity of people when they want to inflict pain on others. In Israel, I saw a people who are strong, determined, resilient, and also angry, in shock, and in deep, deep pain.

“I also spoke with President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and reiterated that the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away. Like so many others, I am heartbroken by the tragic loss of Palestinian life, including the explosion at a hospital in Gaza—which was not done by the Israelis.

“We mourn every innocent life lost. We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace and have an opportunity.”

But the Mideast wasn’t his only focus. The world still needs to confront—or keep confronting—the little dictator in Moscow. Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine didn’t stop just because a war started somewhere else. War doesn’t have limited capital and means.

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy— completely annihilate it. Hamas—its stated purpose for existing is the destruction of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, and innocent Palestinian families are suffering greatly because of them.

“Meanwhile, Putin denies Ukraine has or ever had real statehood. He claims the Soviet Union created Ukraine. And just two weeks ago, he told the world that if the United States and our allies withdraw—and if the United States withdraw, our allies will as well—military support for Ukraine, it would have, quote, ‘a week left to live.’ But we’re not withdrawing.”

Well, not as long as the United States has a president who understands the dangers of appeasement. We can’t assume that will always be the case.

Saying (correctly) that both conflicts are a matter of national security for the United States, the president said he will ask Congress to fund our allies, as the nation has done since World War II. The papers say he will ask Congress for $105 billion to send to Ukraine and Israel.

“History has taught us when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” the president said. “They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America and the world keep rising.”

As an aside, much of that ordnance is made here in Arkansas, so many of us will be kept busy over the months being the arsenal of democracy, as it was once put. We should be happy to help our allies in their fight to remain free and maybe just alive.

As a president named A. Lincoln once told his people before a military push: “Those not skinning can hold a leg.”