The 'downgrade' pic is popular :-)President Obama, a few notes on the economy speech today, since I have a sinking feeling it might not be your last:
1) When trying to inspire confidence that we are not headed into another Great Depression, a good tactic is to not deliver your chat at a fireside. It sends the wrong message. "President Obama delivers fireside chat" is just -- not quite where we hoped we were, economically. It gives us the vague desire to start hoarding bits of tin.
Does anybody listen to the radio anymore?
2) You do realize that no matter how many times you say "No matter what some agency may say, we always have been and always will be a Triple-A country" that doesn't make it true?
Does this work for Malia and Sasha? "No matter what your teacher may say, you always have been and always will be a straight-A student.
I thought every student was the best student?
I have here a signed letter from Warren Buffett saying that if it were possibly to give you a 120 on that test, he would give it to you unreservedly. And Warren Buffett knows what's what."
3) You can't start a speech by saying that the problem America has is "a lack of political will in Washington" and end the speech by saying that the great thing about America is that "we've always not just had the capacity but the will to act."
This author is probably one of maybe five or six(?) who listened to the whole thing.
The bad news is that no one in Washington is capable of solving these problems, because Washington is broken!
"The good news is that our problems are imminently solvable!"
But not until the next election.
4) "For all of the challenges we face, we continue to have the best universities, some of the most productive workers, the most innovative companies, the most adventurous entrepreneurs on earth," you said. That's true, kind of, as long as you're willing to consider "millions of robots" productive workers.
No, that's not my snark, missing the highlight. That's the author.
This speech had the strange whiff of desperation that has crept increasingly into President Obama's communications. It is the sort of speech that you get at 3 a.m. from someone you thought you had succeeded in breaking up with. "But our universities are still the best! And we are very entrepreneurial! And Warren Buffett believes in us!" followed by inarticulate sobbing and the sound of someone falling off a table. It sounds like a good, strong, compelling case -- not at all grasping at straws -- until you say it out loud.