President Obama's five minute Saturday address is a good balance and a good tonic for all the skepticism (here and elsewhere) and pessimism about the coming year, as he talks about the economy and health care. A few takeaways: although unemployment is still growing, job losses in the last quarter of 2009 were one-tenth of those in the first quarter. And despite the phasing-in of elements of the health care bill, a lot will be provided in the first year, to make health insurance more available and affordable, less restrictive and more effective--including free preventive care.
And he ends with a hopeful New Year's message: "We enter a new decade, now, with new perils – but we’re going to meet them. It’s also a time of tremendous promise – and we’re going to seize it. We will rebuild the American Dream for our middle class and put the American economy on a stronger footing for the future. And this year, I am as hopeful and as confident as ever that we’re going to rise to this moment the same way that generations of Americans always have: as one nation, and one people." (If you'd rather scan the transcript, it's here.)
Update: The new CNN poll shows that by and large Americans are not buying the GOPers relentless fearmongering on terrorism. In fact, concern has gone down a tick from summer. While the President's approval rating on this is not as high as it should be--and would be in a less politically toxic environment--it is still at 65%.
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