Obama responds to Osama

At one point in his inaugural address, Obama seemed to respond to a taunt from Osama bin Laden, delivered in the audiotape that was released last Wednesday. As reported by the BBC:

President Bush, the message said, was leaving his successor with a "heavy inheritance" and he doubted that the US could continue fighting al-Qaeda for decades.

"If he withdraws from the war, it is a military defeat. If he continues, he drowns in economic crisis."

Osama, who believes he brought down the Soviet Union, also thinks with some reason that he's bankrupting the U.S. To my ears, this from Obama today was an answer to the prophet of imperial overstretch:

And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."