Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Good for Obama

I thought the president did well in his press conference last night, but I was especially taken by his answer to the awkward question of what “enchanted” him about his first 100 days in office: Enchanted?  (Laughter.)  Enchanted.  I — I will — I will tell you that, when I — when I meet our ...

586270_090430_obamaBB2.jpg
586270_090430_obamaBB2.jpg

I thought the president did well in his press conference last night, but I was especially taken by his answer to the awkward question of what “enchanted” him about his first 100 days in office:

Enchanted?  (Laughter.)  Enchanted.  I — I will — I will tell you that, when I — when I meet our servicemen and -women, enchanted’s probably not the word I would use.  (Laughter.) But — but — but I — but I am — I am so profoundly impressed and grateful to them for what they do.  They’re really good at their job.  They are willing to make extraordinary sacrifices on our behalf. They do so without complaint.  They are fiercely loyal to this country.

And, you know, the more I interact with our — our servicemen and — women, from the top brass down to the lowliest private, I — I’m just — I’m grateful to them.” 

It didn’t make headlines, but it was well said. Obama is not a military natural. But this struck me as from the heart. And I liked his phrase “fiercely loyal,” which should warm Scottish-Irish hearts all over. Sure, he’s an impressive politician, but he didn’t have to go to the military in answering this.

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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