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**Written by Doug Powers

According to NBC’s Jim Maceda, who is in Libya, President Obama’s speech last night probably has Gaddafi and his regime shaking in their boots… because they’re so thrilled.

Transcript from Newsbusters:

JIM MACEDA: Well, there hasn’t been any official comment, Willie, from Gaddafi or from the regime or from the compound, yet. I can tell you that the whole, the atmospherics here of the government officials and minders is very different. They had gone to ground for a number of days: very quiet, very tense. They’re looking much more themselves: much more bellicose, much more defiant in the past 24 hours. I would think, it’s an educated guess but I would say that Gaddafi, after hearing that speech, of course it wasn’t on Libyan TV but anyone with satellite television could have watched it, that the regime now is feeling a lot better. That they’re feeling that they dodged a bullet. If NATO’s taking over, they like that. They’ve got much better relations with NATO than with the United States in general. And they love the idea that the US position as stated by Obama is that they’re not looking for regime change.

To paraphrase history a little, the tone of Obama’s kinetic military action speech fell somewhere in between “Mr. Gorbachev, paint this wall” and “all real Americans love the sting of a UN-approved coalition.” But others thought the speech was magnificently Kennedy-esque. Which was it? Only one thing is certain: The Obama administration made sure the speech was over in time for Dancing with the Stars (just like JFK, who timed his Bay of Pigs speech so it was finished in time for Gunsmoke). Attacking another country is one thing, but preventing people from watching Kirstie Alley do the Cha Cha could cost votes next year. Crisis averted.

**Written by Doug Powers

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