It was certainly a busy day for President Obama yesterday. He spoke on three different occasions from venues in Afghanistan: the first was at the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement with President Karzai; the second was with troops at the Bagram Air Base; and the third was a national address that dealt with ending the American presence in Afghanistan by 2014.
Archive for Speeches
Use of Drones Against Terrorists
Remarkable for its public discussion of the United States and its drone policy, John Brennan’s speech (courtesy of C-SPAN) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars laid out in a detailed fashion the Obama administration’s use and justification for drones. And as drones are employed abroad and are about to be employed in U.S. airspace soon, it is important to review this situation. The text of the speech is here. Additional news/commentary is at: Washington Post, Politico, NPR, and The New York Times. Background information on drones is at: Council on Foreign Relations, Times Topics, Scientific American, Brookings Institution, and RAND. An absolute must read is this January 2012 report - U.S. Unmanned Aerial Systems from CRS.
President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Speech
His speech, a transcript of said speech, the Republican counter-speech, and various interviews are all aggregated at this C-SPAN site. Highlights of the speech are available courtesy of CBS News, along with analysis. Additional reportage is at: USA Today (includes a “fact check” of the speech); the Washington Post (with its own well-established “The Fact Checker“); The New York Times (along with “Choice Words” – a tally of selected words used by President Obama in his SOTU speeches and by the Republican presidential candidates in their debates, interviews, and speeches); and The New Yorker. A very informative essay, accompanied by a linked listing of all previous SOTU messages and speeches, can be found at the American Presidency Project. Here is an interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor on how the foreign press viewed this speech.
American Historical Association – Presidential Speeches
At the annual meetings of the AHA, the outgoing president delivers a speech usually from one of the following categories: an historiographical perspective, a state-of-the-profession reflection, or a summation of his/her field of specialized research. Since 1884, some of the great names in history have been elected as president and have delivered speeches. The Archive of AHA Presidental Addresses includes all of these speeches. Read addresses from such luminaries as Frederick Jackson Turner, Robert Darnton, Carl Becker, Joseph Strayer, Charles Homer Haskins, and other prominent names in history.
President Obama’s Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal Speech
Both a transcript and a video of the speech are here. Analysis can be found at: NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, PBS, and the Los Angeles Times.
President Obama Announces the Death of Osama bin Laden
A video and full transcript of the speech are available here.
Obama’s 2011 State of the Union Address
We have written about the state of the union address in previous entries. But this year, the address can be viewed along with accompanying graphs and charts which illustrate the speech as it is being given. It is being called the Enhanced State of the Union and is only available through the White House portal.
President Obama’s Speech in Tucson
You can view the speech and read the transcript here.
Governor Christie’s 2011 State of the State Address
You can view the speech, which begins around 2pm, here. Immediately following it, there will be analysis as well as the Democratic response. Shortly thereafter, NJN will archive the whole program.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Online
The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Project as published by the University of California Press has six volumes out so far, tracing Dr King’s life to 1963. Each volume has a voluminous introduction, a timeline and the full text of all the documents contained therein. So, you have a wide range of materials from the 1955 Minutes of the Montgomery Improvement Authority where King is elected president to his 1959 letter to Harry Belafonte. Also available is A Knock at Midnight, a selection of his great sermons, and A Call to Conscience, a collection of his greatest speeches. The MLK Encyclopedia provides a thousand hyperlinked articles on his life. (Just a word of caution : the encyclopedia has a less than a robust search interface. It is worth the effort, however.)
President Obama’s Post-Midterm Elections Press Conference
Both the transcript and the video can be accessed here.
President Obama’s Iraq Speech
You can watch the speech at C-SPAN; read the full transcript; and peruse coverage/commentary from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, BBC, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The Heritage Foundation, The Atlantic, and Time.
Text/Video of President Obama’s Speech on Immigration
Here is the full text of his speech and the video is here.
President Obama’s Speech on the Gulf Oil Spill
His first Oval Office speech can be viewed and the transcript read here. Analysis and comments can be found at: The New York Times, The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, BBC, and The Washington Post. For more information, please read our previous posts on this environmental disaster.
Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches
If you, gentle reader, wish to read both the onstage acceptance speeches and the backstage interviews of the award winners, please come here. Also, you may avail yourself of the Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches Database which contains transcripts (as well as videos of recent ceremonies) at least back to 1946.
Governor Christie’s “State of Financial Crisis” Speech
With so many of us either digging out or hunkering down because of the snow, Governor Christie’s speech may have escaped us. You can watch a video of the speech as well as read the transcript of his utterances. This, is combination with his Executive Order No.14, does not bode well for higher education. Please read this informative section from The Star-Ledger which also contains an FAQ. Additional reportage is available: “NJ Schools, Colleges Brace for State Aid Cuts.”
Obama’s 2010 State of the Union Address
Read the transcript here and watch the speech here as well as the Republican response. Reactions to the speech can be accessed on CNN and more opinions are found at the Washington Post and NPR. For more information on the State of the Union speech in general, please visit this previous blog entry.
Governor Christie’s Inaugural Address
The full transcript is available. Watch a view of the inauguration courtesy of C-SPAN.
Corzine’s 2010 State of the State Address
Read the text of the speech as well as watch the video. Newspaper accounts can be read from The Star-Ledger, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Asbury Park Press, Gloucester County Times, Bergen Record, and The New York Times.
Obama’s Speeches
There are three separate sites containing President Obama’s speeches. The first is Barack Obama Speeches 2002-2009 which lists over 200 addresses; the only problem is that it is not current as the last speech here dates from June 2009. Needless to say, the White House has its own Speeches and Remarks section with the speeches arranged in reverse chronological order(that is libraryland lingo that tells you that the most recent item is at the top of the list; the second most recent is second, etc). There is an occasional speech from Mrs Obama here as well. The third repository is the Washington Post’s In Obama’s Words where you can search key speeches by broad category, keyword, date, or location. Videos of the speeches are available as well. This is an up-to-date site, having a speech already posted which was not on the White House site at the time of this writing. If you want all the speeches, go to whitehouse.gov; if, however, you want selected speeches retrievable by various criteria, In Obama’s Words is the place to go.
