From last night’s Special Report with Brit Hume:

—On the Surge and the Speech—

BILL KRISTOL: The plan is more important than the speech. And the execution of the plan is obviously more important than any plan. It was a confident speech. It wasn’t a moving or dramatic speech, but what will matter now is the result.
David Petraeus is going to go over there . . . and he’s got to begin to show progress in three or four, five months, once the U.S. troops get in.
The surge could have been larger, but I think this is probably adequate in terms of numbers. I’m concerned that it’s not front-loaded enough. And the only thing I would say about the speech is it didn’t seem to me to convey the kind of oomph, the kind of, you know, it’s a new day. We’re coming to get you. . . . That the people who are with us say, “Hey, reinforcements are coming. We can win this thing.”
NINA EASTON: You know, I was struck by the extent to which he put Iraqis out front and center onstage and said, “You’re going to be responsible for security of the provinces by November. You’re responsible for the $10 billion in reconstruction. Your treasury is going to pay for that. You’re responsible now, Maliki, for stopping sectarian violence.”
And the White House knows to some extent this is a leap of faith. I mean, we can talk about are there enough American troops to provide an umbrella, logistically? But at the end of the day it’s the willingness of the Maliki government to step in and step up to some of their allies and friends on the sectarian violence.
KONDRACKE: The American people’s patience is also near to being at an end with President Bush. This is as much his last chance as it is Maliki’s last chance. . . . The Democrats want out, and they’ve got a majority of the public at this point with them. So the president’s got to begin to show some results, specifically political results, but also military results, soon.
FRED BARNES: This was not a speech that was a rallying cry to stir the faithful or even get the critics to switch. But the president thinks he can still win there. The U.S. can win. The Iraqi democratic government can win. But the Democrats don’t. . . . They think we can lose, and the best we can do is redeploy, and then maybe the Iraqis will step up and do something they haven’t done before. I think that’s a very risky strategy.
KRISTOL: We have to win the war, frankly, whether the Iraqis play an excellent game or a pretty good game or even a pretty poor game.
HUME: So you don’t think this strategy depends on the Iraqis?
KRISTOL: I don’t think it should depend as much on the Iraqis.