An Excellent and Needed Speech

Let's get past how nice it is to watch a presidential speech that is not only intelligent, but all the words are pronounced correctly. I know I had gotten to the point with Bush that I simply could not listen to the man. It went between him making me angry and shaking my head at how he misused and mispronounced words. It was infuriating and embarrassing at the same time.

Past all that, Obama's speech tonight was well done. He is clearly disgusted with the stalling - and tired, old ideas - and wants to move things along. His speech was thorough and firm. He reminded everyone that he got this mess "wrapped up in a big bow waiting for me when I stepped into the oval office." Stating the urgency, Obama said:

"If we do not move swiftly to sign [the act] into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe," he said. "This is not my assessment. This is not Nancy Pelosi's assessment. This is the assessment of the best economists in the country. This is the assessment of some of the former advisers of some of the same folks who are making these criticisms right now."

"This is not a game," he said. "This is not a contest for who's in power and who's up and who's down."

It's time, he said, to "set aside the gamesmanship in this town and get something done."

Summarized on Political Intelligence, the speech fired me up and reminded us all that the change we heard about in the election is still strong:

"The American people called for change in November," he said, "and that's what we're going to deliver."

I've never seen anything like this in my lifetime. It shouldn't be about Republicans being pissed off that the Democrats have more power (even though they are), or the loss of control. It is about a economic mess that needs a step to get it moving in the right direction. Yes, it should be more, and yes, it is just a small start. But it is a start.

Some of the smartest, most well-educated people I know are out of a job right now. The rest are fearing the ones they are still holding on to. It isn't a game. And it is quite frightening that the Republicans think it is.