Ok, I have a day job so-to-speak so, I’m going to be quick and to the point.
First, FANTASTIC speech. And when I say FANTASTIC, I mean F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C.
President Obama came out, started with some lead-in on the State of the Union, and then dug right in on Healthcare Reform. Once he got going, he spoke with passion and determination, beginning with explaining the problem, then moving into the tenets behind the plan, covering on the back-end some of the very important and necessary points of how Healthcare Reform will be paid for (and other important details) before wrapping up with an impassioned appeal that could only be bettered conveyed with a ‘Yes We Can!’ if only he were able to utter those words.
One sad note is, according to early reports, Congressman Joe Wilson’s shout out, “You lie!” There appears to be some disagreement on exactly what he said, but it was an interruption of the President of the United States during an address to Congress, incredibly disrespectful . . . and stupid. You should be ass-shamed of yourself, Congressman.
But beyond that, again, FANTASTIC. On the three points I offered in my pre-speech notes, he hit solidly on all three. He explained an awesomely complex problem in human terms. He made clear he wanted competition and the ability to offer the American people an alternative plan. And he talked very specifically about how this will / should move forward.
And he was TOUGH. He commandingly called out the lies of ‘Death Panels’, those who find it politically opportunistic to oppose reform, and the irresponsible spending of the past administration and largely Republican-controlled Congress (vis-a-vis his commitment to pay for Reform).
To me, Republicans have a hard choice — They can either dig in their heels and try to defeat Reform. Or they can ‘tuck tail’ and participate (and by ‘tuck tail’ I don’t mean kowtow — I mean actually participate in solving this very real and pressing challenge).
On what I wrote before the President’s speech, I believe President Obama made fantastic strides on all three important points and that he may have succeeded in forcing the argument toward actual progress, not persistent do-nothing.
