Oval Office Address To the Nation

President Bush's speech tonight on the Iraqi elections was his first address from the Oval Office since announcing Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Bush used the occasion to reinforce the pushback he's been mounting recently against the war's unflinchingly defeatist naysayers:

In all three aspects of our strategy - security, democracy, and reconstruction - we have learned from our experiences, and fixed what has not worked.  We will continue to listen to honest criticism, and make every change that will help us complete the mission.  Yet there is a difference between honest critics who recognize what is wrong, and defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right.

Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts. For every scene of destruction in Iraq, there are more scenes of rebuilding and hope.  For every life lost, there are countless more lives reclaimed.  And for every terrorist working to stop freedom in Iraq, there are many more Iraqis and Americans working to defeat them. My fellow citizens:  Not only can we win the war in Iraq - we are winning the war in Iraq.

Full text of the President's address.
The Political Teen has the video.