Poll: Obama’s Speech To Congress

33 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

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  hmoffsuite on February 25 at 7:29 a.m.

  Just another campaign speech. Yesterday, I noted the need for some specifics to come from the speech. That didn’t happen. Others share my opinion.

  “The market is starving for something tangible on which to hang its hat,” said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “There was little of anything tangible in Obama’s speech to bring hope to the market today.”

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  Transplanted_Texan on February 25 at 7:37 a.m.

  Loved it, but I could have used more specifics on health care. I guess those will come with the budget.

  I was excited to see that the economic crisis had not pushed cap-and-trade to the back burner, and was a big fan of this line:

  “Dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country… That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.”

  I’m a smart guy, and very well educated. I’m often cynical about society; I’m not blind to how inattentive the populace can be or how ineffective and inbred Washington can be. But even I was inspired (albeit no Chris Matthews tingles) to listen to the President set such goals that have been so long-neglected. If we want to continue to enjoy this planet, we’ve GOT to turn our attention to the environmental and energy crises. If we want to avoid the worst fiscal disaster in our nation’s history, we’ve GOT to get control over health care costs. If we want to see strong national production and output, we’ve GOT to increase our education levels. And who can argue with curing cancer? But above all, it’s just the right thing to do.

  Like I say, I would have liked to see more specifics, but those will come in time, I suppose. It was, as they say, an address to Congress, not a formal SOTU address. So in that framework, I was certainly pleased.

  Gov. Jindal, not so much. Typical boilerplate Republican words about tax cuts no matter what the situation and all that, but what awful delivery, talking to us like we’re third graders. And that’s disappointing, because until the past few months, he’s been a Republican I’ve always held in high regard.

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  Transplanted_Texan on February 25 at 7:37 a.m.

  DFO and blogmeister Ryan, these long comments wouldn’t seem so long if they weren’t relegated to such a narrow strip of text in the middle of the page. :(

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  Cabbage Boy on February 25 at 7:58 a.m.

  Didn’t watch it. Spent my time much more wisely with my family.

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  toadman on February 25 at 8:23 a.m.

  My wife and I didn’t watch it, as we don’t have television time until after the boys are in bed. We did watch a few excerpts of the speech on Anderson Cooper, but that’s all. Overall, it sounded like a good positive speech…which is one of the things I was hoping for from Obama.

  I didn’t watch the Republican response, but I’m sure Jindal is as sincere in his beliefs as the President. Still, his refusal to take some of the bail-out money seems pretty silly. As Jon Stewart said, “you know, money from Democrats can be traded for goods and services, just like Republican money.” Then, I found out that of the 3.8 billion Louisiana is slated to get, Jindal is actually going to go ahead and take 3.7 billion…refusing only the 100 million that comes with the string attached of changing unemployment laws in the state. Silly I say, just silly. If I were Obama, I’d have just freakin’ given up on this whole stupid thing by now, but he seems to have more patience than me.

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  Sparky on February 25 at 8:28 a.m.

  I was sorry to have missed it and I even missed the re-telecast. I was volunteering….The news coverage has been interesting. One extreme or the other…I have to tell you I am getting tired of this extremism. If I don’t have a horse in the race next election, I may not vote. That will teach them ;)

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  DFO on February 25 at 8:40 a.m.

  I didn’t vote for Obama. And I’m bothered that the stimulus package has too much pork in it. But I hope he and his measures to boost the economy succeed. We’re all in a mess if it doesn’t.

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  BethB on February 25 at 8:48 a.m.

  Loved it. Wrote about it on my blog this a.m. already! Thought Jindal got stuck in a stump speech that was written before the president’s speech was given. I do like Jindal. He’s smart. But he didn’t look that way last night. I think the Texan above said a big chunk of how I feel about the speech. Keep in mind, I campaigned for Obama all last year, in eight states total (including Idaho)! So obviously I like the guy. But I like what he has been saying too, and listen to it intently. Last night, I loved the idea of trying to cut the deficit in half over the next four years; of being truthful about the deficit in the first place (and including the Iraq costs); of looking to tackle health care this year (a promise, and this guy works to keep his promises)…. I loved that it was an hour long. I loved that there were jokes. What can I say? I just loved it.

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  Arch_Druid on February 25 at 9:17 a.m.

  Dave, you check out “Smart Bombs” this morning? That was your colleague’s Gary Crooks best to date. It was so freaking funny that for the stimulus being a “porkulus” package by way of the GOP, SOME members of Congress after voting against it, were still prepared to deliver porkulus to their states and districts. Crooks was too polite to say so, but that was the bottom line.

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  Arch_Druid on February 25 at 9:23 a.m.

  What I saw of Jindal’s speech I also “Facebooked” about it. Yeah, it looked like Jindal had a pre-written speech that went off the deep end on a number of points and went wide of the mark on others. Just saw on CNN that Factcheck.org disputed Jindal’s claim for high speed rail between Las Vegas and Disneyland. “Unspecified rail projects” was what they understood to be the case. Which would certainly argue that the states would have to desire such transportation, get the ground prepared for it and then receive the money. Guys on Facebook had a general thumbs down about Jindal. No kidding.

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  toadman on February 25 at 9:26 a.m.

  I don’t understand what the problem is with creating high speed rail between LV and Disneyland. For that matter, I’d like to see a complete system of high speed rail criss-crossing this nation in 30 years. It’d be really nice. That’s not pork to me…

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  Aliasjax on February 25 at 9:36 a.m.

  All sizzle, no steak…

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  Bent on February 25 at 9:39 a.m.

  Obama sure took a big bite of the apple last night. Pledging reforms in energy dependence, healthcare and eductation. More power to him if he can pull all of that off … It will require a true CHANGE in the way Congress works … The way things work now, any one of those issues could talke a decade or more to reform…

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  hmoffsuite on February 25 at 9:58 a.m.

  Now that we have been a witness to the special needs spending by Congress like TARP and the Stimulus package, we can look forward to the run of the mill congressional budget coming out in a week or so. Not a big deal, only about $500 billion. The only problem with the budget is that it contains 9,000 earmarks. (not a typo). CHANGE? Ya, right.

  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/25/spending-bill-has-9000-earmarks/

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  GaryIngram on February 25 at 11:07 a.m.

  Lots of tough talk about accountability. We’ll see. BTW, the automobile was not an American invention. But its manufacture flourished in our beloved county because of free enterprise. And a lot of car companies, a lot of them, failed only after few years for various economic reasons. There was no socialist bailout. There was no idea that every business had to stay in business with a government guarantee. Does the President get that?

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  hmoffsuite on February 25 at 11:12 a.m.

  Bent >>> “Obama sure took a big bite of the apple last night. Pledging reforms in energy dependence, healthcare and eductation”

  Each of these initiatives is necessary, worthwhile and should be put forth, imo. The funding, however, is a huge concern with our economy being in the condition it is. One exception would be energy dependence. We could likely greatly increase oil production by drilling for more, right now, and have it funded by private enterprise. Private money, not our money. But, as much sense as it makes, Obama won’t go for it as it is against the wishes of Pelosi, who seems to be calling the shots for Obama. What a shame. I would like to have heard Obama say something like this : “These initiatives are at the top of our list. Right now, in addition to throwing money at the economy, we will look at each and every goverment spending program and eliminate all wasteful spending in every area. Once we have the economy back on its feet, we will pursure these very important initiatives”

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  Transplanted_Texan on February 25 at 1:58 p.m.

  Arch, do you have a link to Crooks?

  Arch and Toadman, are we sure it’s to Disneyland? Or is it just to LA, which for rhetoric’s sake the Repubs have taken to calling “Disneyland”? And anyway, it’s not pork, it’s from the President himself and part of the definition of pork is something that the President did not request. High speed rail and mass transit will be key to fixing the energy crisis so I’m all for it.

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