Obama scores big with speech

In a move clearly made with an eye toward his re-election in 14 months, President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress and the American people on Thursday to introduce his American Jobs Act. That's a rare and gutsy move, but I thought he delivered his 45-minute speech well and showed that, despite his critics, he is a master politician.
Obama started out sounding a little bit desperate. I lost count of how many times he said "You need to pass this bill right away," or some variation of the same. The more I listened, though, the more I was in awe of how skillfully he took the pressure off himself and put it squarely on the shoulders of Congress.
He did that first by playing squarely to the middle. Instead of coming across like a demagogue and the extreme leftist his critics like to portray him as, Obama took great pains to show that his proposals were embraced by many in the mainstream. He invoked both Big Labor and Big Business and demonstrated that they had both supported similar proposals in the past. Repeatedly, he pointed out that similar proposals had been tried successfully, and that they had gained bipartisan support. It was a shrewd move meant to undercut his most vocal critics.
The president also helped his case by appealing to America's pride, and dare I say, hubris. Obama challenged our nation's competitive spirit by pointing out that other countries-- China and South Korea -- were getting ahead of us and doing things that we -- the greatest country on earth -- should be doing first, doing better. He seemed to be asking Congress, "Are we going to let them beat us?" Genius. Pure genius.
Finally, I was impressed that Obama didn't duck his fiercest critics. Instead of ignoring the criticism that's been coming his way, even from those in his own party, the president acknowledged it. Instead of using his bully pulpit to score political points and take swipes at Republicans, he provided calm, rational answers, and made himself look presidential in the process.
Obama acknowledged that the American Jobs Act is not the "silver bullet" that many are looking for. But I believe it is a step in the right direction, and the first step in a long process of recovering America's economic might. Congress should pass it without delay.