Obama Promises Naval Academy Grads They Will Only Fight if Absolutely Necessary

One would have to assume that every Commander-in-Chief looked at the U.S. military in the same way. Few men would make the decision to send young Americans to certain death without believing that such a decision was 100% necessary to the safety and prosperity of the United States. But statements like the one Obama made in his speech at the Naval Academy are capable of grabbing headlines in times like these. Wars are very rarely popular with the majority of the public - especially wars that drag on for years with no clear means of achieving victory or even getting American troops back home.

Reading between the lines of Obama's speech, you have to assume that he is implying that some of our military is currently engaged in actions that would not have been deemed "absolutely necessary" by Obama. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and it's all too easy to criticize the policies of the Bush administration after seeing their results.

But now Obama has staked his credibility on raising the American military presence in Afghanistan and trying to stabilize a region that is rapidly deteriorating. Pakistan is already on the verge of collapse and the Taliban have grown much stronger during the early months of Obama's administration. Guantanamo Bay has been grabbing headlines as Congress shut down Obama's plan to close the prison and transfer prisoners to mainland U.S. facilities.

And all of this is happening at a time when graduation ceremonies and other events afford Obama great opportunities to speak to captive audiences and the entire nation, indirectly. It's an important time for the new president as he begins to outline his agenda for the next several months and tries to identify the goals that he would like to achieve.