No Moral Equivocation

Tomorrow President Obama is slated to speak at Nomandy on the 65th anniversary of D-Day.
Obama is said to be a "gifted" public speaker.
But he has a high hurdle to overcome.
For it was 25 years ago tomorrow that President Reagan came to the same spot and delivered his now-famous "Boys of Pointe du Hoc" speech.
For Ronald Reagan there was no moral equivocation especially when it came to the fight for freedom and democracy and the values that America holds dear.
Reagan's speeches were compelling and convincing precisely because he avoided tedious moral balancing acts and never apologized for our nation and those who served our nation so proudly.
Great persuasive speakers rarely equivocate.
Instead, they vigorously expound strong, clear principles and beliefs. They inspire. They lead.
Here's part of what Reagan said on June 6, 1984:

Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge - and pray God we have not lost it - that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.