It is absolutely incredible how people focus like a laser on "how was the speech?" with regards to President Obama. Very rarely is the substance of the speech the focus of the pundits. Fortunately it would seem this morning that the American People at least paid attention to the meat and potatoes in the State of The Union address last night.
The morning polls suggest that people woke up to the assertions the President made in the State of the Union, barely...that tons of taxes have actually been cut for 8 million members of the poor and middle classes, that the administration has tried to affect real change (not just window dressing), and that they came into office and handled an economic meltdown--keeping it from sliding into a deeper crevasse. A quick look at the Rasmussen Polls this morning suggest that they believed what he said, but the reality is that the President's numbers are very thin right now, even after a very solid speech before Congress.
The substance of the speech, however, is what folks really should be looking at when analyzing this address. The President made a good case about his administration's perspective of the ground laying before our country. It wasn't a great speech. It was "pedestrian," but it delivered the goods. Those goods detailed a smorgasbord of items on the President's domestic agenda. It also seemed to deliver 110 minutes of common sense to the halls of Congress, to members whom very rarely are guided by that instinct.
Cutting taxes for 8 million folks, though, didn't seem to be enough for certain members of the assembled Congressional and Senatorial confab, as Republicans sat on their hands through almost the entire speech. Even with the parts one would have thought (and the President obviously did) they would have given him a little bit of props on, they refused to show any approval of his policies at all. Amazing.
But that is the way of Washington, DC. Its a turf war with the street gangs wearing little gold pins. The President delivered a quality common sense dose of reality, and common sense in his suggestions for the future. We shall see whether it makes any difference this year, on the ground. So far the American People are split on whether they believe that the President is on their side.
The key piece of data I am seeing this morning, though is that 61% of Americans think Congress is doing a poor job. It validates the message that the President brought to the dais last night.
In essence, "get your act together, Congress."
The 110 minutes of common sense that the President brought to congress may make a difference, but its going to take a few weeks to find out whether both Democrats and Republicans actually heard the message.
