Politics

Speech Gets Mostly High Marks

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 21, 2001 / 8:33 AM EDT / CBS

America's allies are giving an enthusiastic thumbs up to President Bush's call for a global campaign against terrorism.

In an address to a joint session of Congress Thursday night, the president demanded that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan surrender terror suspect Osama bin Laden. Mr. Bush's message to the rest of the world was, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

The Taliban quickly rejected the ultimatum. The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan told reporters bin Laden won't be turned over without evidence. A day earlier, Afghanistan's Islamic clerics called for bin Laden to leave voluntarily - a call quickly rejected by Washington.

The most visible show of support for President Bush came from Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair. He said it's a struggle that concerns all of the "democratic and civilized and free world."

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson welcomed Mr. Bush's address. "The international community knows that bin Laden and his network have been behind some of the worst attacks" in the past, he told Germany's ZDF television.

The speech was broadcast live in Japan, where just a few hours earlier Japanese military ships escorted the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk from its base just south of Tokyo.

The carrier was believed to be heading to the Indian Ocean to be ready should a military operation against Afghanistan be needed.

"We determinedly will extend our support for Bush in our maximum capacity," said Tsutomu Himeno, a spokesman for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

On the home front, reaction to the president's speech was largely positive, with politicians from both sides of the aisle praising Mr. Bush's words and demeanor.

Speaking to the nation with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, after Mr. Bush's speech, Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Congress will take up the president's anti-terrorism initiative "with speed."

And while there may be differences along the way, Daschle said there will be "no difference in our aim."

For his part, Lott noted that after a presidential address, it is customary for the opposition party to offer a response, but in this case "there is no opposition party. We stand here united."

Lott said there's "been a lot of sorrow" and "a lot of tears," but now, "we must pull together."

Those thoughts are echoed in many of the reactions from less famous Americans who watched the speech last night:

"Our country needed something to bring it together, and look at the people in the Congress. Have you ever seen Democrats and Republicans together? We need a common denominator. We've got one. We've been assaulted and we've been hurt. People who are hurt come together." - Nancy Williams, 57, of Kansas City, Kan., who took a break from her work as a hotel security guard to watch the presidential address from a television in the Brasserie Bar & Cafe in the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City.

"He is trying to tie in other countries, ad make this an international incident, not just one in the U.S. - which is great." - Russ Kleisner, 42, a medical supply sales rep from Chicago watching the speech with a crowd at Quinton's Bar and Deli in Iowa City, Iowa.

"I think he was too comprehensive with demands that will not be met. He asked for the world and he will not be given the world." - Joe Calhoun, 46, a patent attorney who watched at a sports bar at the Embassy Suites hotel in Little Rock.

"This is the only time I ever remember focusing so intently on a presidential speech and feeling a little bit choked up, not my usual cynical, political reaction." - Gordon Turner, a financial services worker, who watched in the television department of a store in downtown Portland, Ore.

"He made it clear. It's war, and we're ready." - Paivi Stahlberg, 29, a receptionist who watched at home in Tustin, Calif., with her husband, Darin Stahlberg. She noted that children normally playing at the apartment complex were silent during the speech.

"Afghanistan is a poor country. And bombing them will just make them poorer. It's big-stick diplomacy and I'm not sure if it's appropriate, given the nature of this conflict." - Michael Miller, a financial analyst who played pinochle in a Detroit bar while keeping one ear on the radio.

"I was real impressed...In a society that is divided in so many ways, it unified us, not only as Americans, but as lovers of freedom." - Lee Ussery, 27, at a restaurant in Montgomery, Ala.

"Before he spoke, there were things that I feared, doubts that I had. I think after listening to his speech I had a resolve. I had peace. And I felt comfort." - Debra Menuez, 40, a property manager from Castle Rock, Colo., who listened in a Denver bar.

"I'd like to hear a little bit more about this compensation package. I was expecting a little bit more from the president about the airline thing." - Victoria Carlyle Stough, 32, a waitress in Miami with investments in Delta Air Lines, which Thursday said there would be layoffs because of lost business since the terrorist attacks.