Sorry, I have to agree with Staralfur here.
Maybe it's the speech teacher in me, but Bush hurts my ears. Mind you, I consider myself a Republican and a Bush supporter. But when I heard him doing press conferences earlier in the week, he was just plain awful. I wish he'd take a cue from Reagan and know what the reporter's questions were beforehand.
This speech was very well-written, but to me it definitely sounded like a speech writer or two had a major role in forming the speech.
I don't consider myself an authority on the subject, but I did take a graduate course studying Presidential speeches. It depends on the president. Some use speech writers extensively, some hardly at all. Reagan used them a lot. Kennedy hardly at all. I'm not sure where Bush, Jr. falls in line. I'd have to research it to know for sure.
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Most Subtle Official Straightman of the Laughing Hyenas -- Grammarian Brigade.
"The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom." -- Thomas Huxley