Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Time to Get to Work




President Obama's Labor Day speech in Milwaukee made news and ignited the progressive blogosphere, first for his delivery of its fighting rhetoric and spirited defense, and second for the proposal he unveiled, to spend $50 billion this year on jobs for infrastructure projects--roads, railways and runways. In about forty minutes he revived Democratic hopes for 2010--and pledged to continue making his case all across the country.

Two quick observations: The infrastructure proposal caught the media and everybody else by surprise. Nothing about it had leaked, so analysts scrambled to evaluate it. That surprise also helped inspire immediate praise on the progressive blogs, with few if any complaints that it wasn't enough.

Second, there were some new rhetorical flourishes in the speech. Obama's inserted line about special interests ( "They talk about me like a dog") got the most immediate attention, but dubbing the Republicans as the party of "No We Can't" is likely to have more lasting utility. But it's clear that some commentators simply haven't been listening all that closely to what he's been saying in the past weeks and months, noting turns of phrase he's field-tested before. Did President Obama suddenly find his speech-making genius again? Or did commentators just pay attention for once? Probably a little of both. But if the name of the game this year is voter enthusiasm, the Democrats just took a big step towards getting some.

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