E.J. Dionne Jr.: Obama’s deficit speech: worthy of a president

[highplainsdem]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-deficit-speech-worthy-of-a-president/2011/04/13/AFfAimXD_story.html

Obama’s deficit speech: worthy of a president
By E.J. Dionne Jr., Wednesday, April 13, 3:47 PM


President Obama has finally decided to take his own side in the philosophical struggle that is the true engine of this nation’s budget debate.

After months of mixed signals about what he was willing to fight for, Obama finally laid out his purposes and his principles. His approach has difficulties of its own, and much will depend on execution. But the president was unequivocal in arguing that the roots of our fiscal problems lie in the tax cuts of the last decade that we could not afford. And he raised the stakes in our politics to something more fundamental than dry numbers on a page or computer screen.

“We are rugged individualists, a self-reliant people with a healthy skepticism of too much government,” he declared. “But there has always been another thread running throughout our history — a belief that we are all connected; and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation. We believe, in the words of our first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, that through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.”

-snip-

For all that, there was a bigness about Obama’s speech that was a relief after his recent sojourn as a sideline judge. “We believe that in order to preserve our own freedoms and pursue our own happiness, we can’t just think about ourselves,” he said. “We have to think about the country that made those liberties possible. We have to think about our fellow citizens with whom we share a community.” Obama is back on the field, and this is where he needs to stay.

Please read the entire column at the link.

[OHdem10]

1. I believe this is the best speech Obama has given.

[provis99]

6. you must be joking, or seriously delusional.

Read the speech transcript. The only thing Obama actually promised was $2 trillion in cut government programs over the next 12 years. All his figures for everything else are completely made up.

[JuniperLea]

9. I listened and I read...

And I think yours is a bullshit post. You should post proof of such ridiculous assertions... oh, wait... you can't.

[indepat]

7. And when I looked, 45% of respondents (was it 18,000+) of an MSNBC poll rated the speech an

F? Wonder what the politics of that 45% were? :shrug:

[kentuck]

2. Does the Democratic Party take advantage of this speech?

or does it become just another "speech"?

[Javaman]

3. What do you think?

I'm tripping out in my cynical bliss.

[kentuck]

4. There is an opportunity here..

that the President, whether you trust him or not, has given the Democratic Party. It is a template of progressive ideas that could reinstill a vision in our Party, it they so desired.

[highplainsdem]

11. +1

[polichick]

5. Very good piece - k&r

[highplainsdem]

14. Thanks for the rec!

[GeorgeGist]

8. Another speech of the Century ...

I expect the action will be compromise as usual.

[Zenlitened]

10. Great line by Dionne:

President Obama has finally decided to take his own side in the philosophical struggle that is the true engine of this nation’s budget debate.

Though I'd widen it a bit beyond "budget debate" to include the very notion of who and what we are as a country, and how the liberal, progressive vision is frankly superior to the garbage being peddled by the right-wing.

I think Pres. Obama did that quite well in his speech today, even if he felt compelled to return to happy-talk about bipartisanship to wrap the speech up.

I don't expect him to abandon that sort of talk entirely. I just hope he (and the Dem leadership) have really, down-deep decided to proudly embrace and articulate the traditionally core principles of the Democratic Party, rather than run away from them.

This could be a real turning point, one I've been awaiting since Jan. of 2009.

[pacalo]

12. Another opinion that is spot on: Obama hit it out of the ballpark today.

In retrospect, it seems Obama's "failure to communicate" to the American people was a calculated strategy to give the Republicans the impression that they were (using Charlie Sheen's word) winning so that their own words could be used against them most effectively at the right time. It had to be done this way in order for the Republicans to balderdash their way into being made to look really stupid & cruel before Obama, the sensible adult, comes into the room & calls them out in front of everyone.

The only drawback to this strategy is that the first impression is hard to overcome. Obama can do it, though. The very-vocal Republicans have given him a lot of ammunition. They've hung themselves with their own in-your-face rhetoric.

I'm very happy with Obama today!

[Change Happens]

13. Agreed !!!

:)