Obama's speech... (yes, I watched it)

Well... if you're going to try to make a case for committing more troops, I suppose you could do worse...

... that said, I can't truthfully say I'm jumping up and down with excitement at any continuing U.S. military role in the region.

I enjoyed the none-too-subtle jabs at the previous administration for leaving us with the the Afghan mess.
I enjoyed being reminded - explicitly - that when we first sent troops to Afghanistan in response to 9/11, we were a united country and had the world's support. Unsaid but implied: W squandered this unity and near-universal support.

Having listened to the speech, can I answer the question, "Why are we sending 30K more troops?" ?
No.

On the bright side, there were no references to building a bright-beacon bastion of liberal democracy in south-central Asia!

Did Obama convince anyone?
I doubt it.
Did he at least manage to silence his right-wing critics?
Not sure... but this may have been the most successful part of the speech: anticipating the right-wing, war-mongering, chicken-hawk criticisms and addressing them, one 'option' at a time.