http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/25/barack-obama-congress-speechA speech that defines a new era
Michael Tomasky
In his address to Congress, Barack Obama turned the economic crisis into an opportunity for liberalism
Video at link~
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It was a fantastic speech that defines a new era in this country. It's time, he said, to do things we've put off for too long. We've put these tasks off and we know it. And we can't put them off any longer. These things are, chiefly, energy and healthcare and education, and it falls to all of us to play our roles. The rich will pay more taxes. The New Year's party is over for those at the top of society. US politics has been defined by bashing poor people (or at best ignoring them) since Ronald Reagan's time. Now, it's rich people who are on the carpet.
But not only rich people. Everybody who isn't helping is part of the problem. Probably the best line of the speech was directed at people at the bottom of society – high-school dropouts. When you quit school, Obama said, "it's not just quitting on yourself. It's quitting on your country." That's a Kennedyesque call that signals to everyone listening that Obama is holding everyone to a standard of behaviour.
Foreign policy was slightly short-changed in this address. Obama said the right things about torture (which Republicans, or many of them, applauded – that may prove to be significant). He made an important point about being honest with the American people about the real cost of the war in Iraq. He touched on Pakistan and the Middle East and a few other matters. He said nothing wrong here, but these passages didn't quite have the brio the domestic passages did. Hillary Clinton may have been the one Democrat who left the chamber slightly disappointed.
But on the economy and the other domestic tasks, Obama was passionate and smart, and his framing was pitch perfect. I was watching on MSNBC, which featured those focus-group lines across the bottom of the screen, showing how people were reacting to his words in real time. There were separate lines for Democrats and Republicans. For nearly a third of the speech, both lines were literally off the charts – higher than could even be measured on screen.
He will have his ups and downs, and this economy will not respond to any miracle cures. But this is what we have campaigns for. Millions of Americans have been dispirited and humiliated by the last eight years and have been waiting desperately for this speech and the change of direction it signals. And Republicans, meanwhile, better hope they can keep this man off the TV.