About the West Point speech - is the Obama magic gone?

From Germany, where the media is not fully committed to Obama worship, comes the following report via Der Spiegel titled, Searching in vain for the Obama magic.

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan.

It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.

One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received.

Before the speech the cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech but the reception by the cadets was cool.

It was the least truthful address that he has ever held.

He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics.

He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly.

An additional 30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan -- and then they will march right back out again.

From various Lucianne commenters:

He was telling the troops: here's some more men, some bullets and new boots and I'll get back with you in 18 months.
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He used the cadets like the Styrofoam Greek Columns at the Democratic convention to give his circle-talk speech.
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One wonders how Obama felt when real Americans, in a place he could never qualify to attend, sat in stony silence instead of cheering, chanting and fainting like the mobs at his speeches to inner-city admirers.
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Giving our scheduled “pull out” date is very convenient for the Taliban. Even though the 18-month date was intended to be a target date, the Taliban will make good use of that information. It proved once again that Mr. Obama has little concept of what it takes to fight a war.
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Interesting timing. The 18-month end of the war is timed just right so the pull out will be in plenty of time for him to take credit during his re-election campaign.

The pull out will not be a victory, but that doesn’t matter. Did he talk about victory in his West Point speech? No, he is not interested in victory. He wants a pull out of Afghanistan a few months before his next presidential campaign.
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He used the word “I” over 30 times.
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The original request was for 80,000 troops. That got pared down to 30,000 after a several month wait.
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In the meanwhile, elitists in the mainstream media will be trying their best to somehow put a positive face to the Obama speech at West Point.
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One can’t argue with the looks on most of the faces of the cadets. A couple of them were obviously sleeping. Most looked bored. Many looked down as if to study the shine on their boots.

The looks on the faces of the veteran officers must have been a combination of disbelief and bewilderment.

Is the Obama magic gone?

Link to the Der Spiegel report here.