President Obama was not at the top of his game last night, but he gave an effective speech. The most telling part of the aftermath was the near-uniform Republican dismissal of the idea of federal investment in the development of future job sectors. It wasn't a radical proposal: The president didn't call for an industrial policy (although we need one, and badly) and he didn't call for anything beyond the American government's traditional role as an incubator. Yet, Republicans made the curious and undocumentable claim that that has never worked. Just who do they think came up with the internets, anyway?
Of the response during the speech, what struck me the most was the tepid applause when Obama called for a five-year freeze in federal spending. I don't regard that as anything more than a rhetorical gambit, but both sides responded to it with disapproval: Republicans, because he didn't demand cuts; Democrats, because he didn't demand expansion.
This showed not only the impossibility of compromise in this climate, but that actual consensus on anything is about as likely as Woody Allen dunking over Shaquille O'Neal. But maybe there was something to Obama's proposal: Perhaps he came across like a responsible man making a reasonable request of the children in the room, all of whom chose to sit on their hands and pout...
The New York Times thinks he done good...
So do the American people...
Stanley Fish on Obama's rhetoric (he liked it)...
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2 comments:
I was not wildly enthusiastic about his speech, but I think he said what he needed to say. I don't care what the Republicans thought; they will do nothing to help him and we already knew that.
I was disappointed that he didn't take the shooting of Gabby as a lead in point out the need to better gun control and mental health care.
I didn't like him including Social Security in with the budget. It does need reform, but is doing just fine right now and can wait until other pressing issues are resolved.
I did like his tone of optimism. It's hard for anyone to be hopeful now and I am sure that holds true for Obama. He tried, though.
The Republicans seem bent on showing that they have an utter paucity of ideas. Their message is "Things used to be good, now they suck, and they're going to get worse. Oh, and we need to waste time appeasing the teabaggers, so don't expect any help from us." Paul Ryan wasn't even allowed to talk about his own plan, mostly because that would be like nuking yourself.
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