I have grown so weary with the bad news in politics and government, that I almost didn't watch the SOTUS tonight. I thought I would just read about it tomorrow. I would have missed something special.
Obama was feisty and lightly humorous, with chatty asides more like a campaign talk at times; but he also was cajoling and deftly scolding (of the Supreme Court, all seated in front of him; of the Republicans on many things, and of the Democrats on a few: "We have a big majority; don't just run for the hills."
He was also determined ("I don't quit."), challenging ("I want a jobs bill on my desk as soon as possible."), and confrontive (referring to the huge deficit that was there "before I walked in the door, based on fighting two wars without paying for them and big tax cuts."). He even spoke directly to "the Republican leadership," saying that "if your policy is to just say no to everything that is proposed, that is not leadership." And he took on the partisan squabbling and the lobbyists that keep Congress from doing the job that the people sent them to Washington to do.
But he was also humble and took responsibility for mistakes.
And -- on health care: don't give up now (to the Dems: ). We're closer now than we've ever been before. We can get it done.
He even said: "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are."
As someone commented about the speech: he hit the reset button. Now let's see what happens.
Ralph
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I agree he basically said many good things. I'm a little surprised the comment he made about providing loan money to small businesses through 'community' banks was pretty much ignored in most of the analyses, though. I thought that was an interesting aspect of the loan program. I think early polls said 78% of the viewers basically liked what they heard.
ReplyDeleteThe question now is, can he follow up on any of this? As one of the liberal commentators said on TV this morning, Yes it was a good speech but that doesn't mean a lot anymore since we know he can come up with a good speech when he hits a trough. Sylvia saw it as a campaign speech, one given by someone running for office. In a way, that's what he's doing - running against the establishment he is now a part of. Interesting to see how that will play. I guess he has come to realize it is much harder to change Washington than he thought. Maybe he should talk to Jimmy Carter.
The burden, though, is now on Obama to follow up his words by doing something. Yes, Congress is a huge problem. Obama couldn't get more than 36 Democrats to vote for the bipartisan panel he wanted to set up; and 6 or 7 of the Republican sponsors of that bill jumped ship, showing they were insincere to begin with. So there is still the question of whether or not he, given the circumstances, can actually lead.
But he is the president and Bush was able to get legislation passed with less base support. So Obama needs to figure out a way to move the Democrats, too.
If I were him, I'd be hammering every night about the Republicans refusing to do anything - and the recalcitrant Democrats, also. When you have people who have shown they are totally resistant to working with you, I think you need to keep pointing the finger publicly. Sooner or later some of them will get the message.
richard
I agree with Richard, he needs to do something now that works. But I loved the speech. I liked him saying the words "small banks" too.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I wanted to hear that he didn't say was, "Tim Geithner, you're fired." But I can wait a few weeks for that.
He pulled out all the stops and got Bernanke reappointed. But it would obviously cause too much instability to get rid of all three of them. Bernanke is the least objectionable, IMO. Let's replace Geithner and Summers.
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