The Speech: "Yes We Will"

In Barack Obama style, optimism is not cheerleading but understanding the situation, finding the best answers and getting to work on them without delay. Tonight, we saw that approach, expressed with more assertion than we have seen before from the President in charge of saving the American economy.

“While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this,” he said in his address to Congress. “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”

If there is a word that means the opposite of "demagogue," Obama defined it tonight by devoting his speech to detailing the difficulties without minimizing them while stressing the steps needed to save jobs, save homes and get the banking system working again.

He told us "we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day."

In his even-handed way, the President emphasized his desire "not to lay blame or look backwards," but added that "it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament."

He acknowledged widespread resentment over the bank bailouts but made it clear that "we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job--our job--is to solve the problem" and promised "I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can't pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can't get a mortgage."

Beyond the immediate crisis, the President laid out long-range answers to energy independence, health care reform and improved education, insisting that they can't be delayed, because "to fully restore America's economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world."

It was not called a State of the Union address, but the Congress and the country got a good look at what political leadership should be that was underscored, for comic relief, by a lame Republican rebuttal from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, full of stale platitudes about what government shouldn't do at a moment in American history when only government can stop the bleeding that free enterprise has inflicted on the country.

Doomsday Minus Twelve

The Barack Obama countdown to saving the American economy continues today, this time with his warning, "A bad situation could become dramatically worse."

In what the transition team describes as a major speech at George Mason University this morning, the President-Elect says:

"I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits. Our economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity, which translates into more than $12,000 in lost income for a family of four. We could lose a generation of potential and promise, as more young Americans are forced to forgo dreams of college or the chance to train for the jobs of the future. And our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and standing in the world."

On Day One minus twelve, Obama is rallying public support for the coming Congressional battle to deploy up to $1 trillion more to stop the economic slide.

Yesterday, Democratic legislators were warned by what the New York Times calls "a startling range of name-brand economists...to think more boldly than ever before."

Afterward, the "shell-shocked" chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, told a reporter, “The thing I wanted to ask was if there was some limit which we should be wary of? Is there some limit in terms of how much borrowing and debt creation we should take on?”

The answer to his unspoken question seems to be no, but Congressional Republicans are scrambling to find their role in the process as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicts a bill by the middle of next month and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell promises "to make certain that any dollar spent to stimulate the economy will in fact achieve that outcome and produce jobs and opportunity."

After years of torpor on Capitol Hill, it's beginning to look like one of those speeded-up silent films with everyone racing around to get something done. It will be fascinating to hear what comes out after January 20th when they add the sound.