I thought that was a great speech, well-written by the President's staff and well-delivered by the President.

President Bush clearly isn't the world finest orator, but he definitely surprised a lot of people with the confidence and determination he showed tonight.

The kids over at MetaFilter seem to mostly agree. I share in the "I haven't been a big fan of his, but he really stepped up" opinion.

Whichever speechwriter came up with this:

By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.

...deserves a big raise.

Obviously we need to preserve our civil liberties, our ability to engage in open criticism of the government, and other features that make the United States the free society that it is. At the same time, it's good to feel that people are having some respect for our leaders, and it's a welcome change that those leaders are doing some things which deserve respect.

Just my opinion.