Skipping blessing for the troops
It’s standard for presidential speeches — both short and long — to include the line “God bless the United States of America” at the end. President Obama’s speech about the troop surge in Afghanistan didn’t break with the tradition.
But when handing out his blessings, the president left out one. Here’s what he said:
Thank you. God bless you. May God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Pretty standard. However, the speech text that the White House released prior to the speech included another blessing. One aimed at the troops. Here’s what the prepared text had the president saying:
Thank you, God bless you, God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of America.
Did he feel it was redundant because the “God bless you” was aimed at the West Point cadets who were forced to sit through the speech? Or did the teleprompter screw it up once again? It’s hard to imagine he simply forgot to say it — the speech was about a troop surge, and he was speaking at West Point.
Sources:
The White House, Dec. 1, 2009
Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan
LA Times, Dec. 1, 2009
Full President Obama speech text on Afghanistan
Hot Air, Dec. 7, 2009
