Good Vs Evil Speech Analysis

Good vs. evil, simply defined in one line of the speech, although he obviously had a much broader approach. However, the one line remembered and repeated and it was actually very vague being as follows: "Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” (Pellegrini).
The President did identify the leader of this “evil” as Osama Bin Laden, but the name was used only once in the speech. Instead, very smartly, the President broadened the evil to a group of loosely affiliated terrorist groups called Al-Qaeda (Bush). Here he tied them with several smaller attacks on US citizens. He explained the Al-Qaeda to the listeners by using a reference most would understand, stating: “Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime (Bush).” One of the smartest moves in the speech, Bush separated peaceful Muslims from these terrorists by identifying them to an ideology of a fringe form of Islamic extremism (Spring & Packer 124). By this he further separated the “evil” (terrorists) from the “good” (everyone else), making sure the peaceful Muslims in America and abroad knew he was not …show more content…
Listening to the President I was brought to tears, not so much for the words, but because I understand what it meant for my family and me. The distinction of good verse evil made me bitterly angry and I had a difficult time understanding and explaining to my three small children what was happening. The changes this speech started in this country affected me, like the rest of the country, but as a service member, I knew I was going into harm’s way to defend our way of life. I was both excited and proud, but at the same time, I was scared for my family. Overall, at the time, this speech made me proud to be an American, more importantly, a Texan and claim the President as one of our