It's not like Senator Obama didn't vote for it!

Are our memories so short?

It was truly a great speech--and tied in well with his campaign promises--aside from the timetable on Iraq. He gave absolutely something to everybody, and it's hard not to think it won't have some "leavening" effect on the GOP ideologues afraid of "Russination."

It looks like he's going full speed ahead on health care, rather than wait out the recession. I'd better believe him when I find out who he's going to have try to do the job--or have I missed the latest? What will he have to do to get the red necks to go along?

I'd look for you on Matthews, but since he's no longer in prime time it's past by bedtime.

Hugs,

Didn't watch the speech - why should I? It's all bullshit anyway. I was nauseated the first 90 seconds, seeing everyone cheer, clap, applaud, smile, hug each other. Why? Why are they clapping? Why are they cheering? Why are they hugging each other? They work together everyday.

It was a disgusting display of theatre for the Dumb American: "My leaders are really happy, and they really like each other, and boy, they sure are excited and ready to roll up their sleeves and work for us! Duuuuuhhhhh."

And then later I see Rahm being interviewed by Brian Williams. Why is the White House Chief of Staff being interviewed after the President's speech? I don't ever remember, in the past eight administrations, anytime the Chief of Staff was interviewed after a Presidential speech.

As for your column, it was absolutely perfect, not a wrong note in or out of place.

Hilarious. Posting on Salon, I'd much rather bring the big brains, but I've just gotta say, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who made the Kenneth observation. As a matter of fact, within the first ten seconds of Jindal's tripping all over his big opportunity, I changed my facebook status to "...is thinking Jindal is like the page from 30 Rock." My god, if this is the guy early '12 GOP hopes are resting on...wow...what a lost party. But the longer they're lost, the better.

For a second I thought maybe I'd imagined Matthews' on-mic slip. Thanks for the confirmation!

Obama's speech was solid. Man, is he one cool customer. Joking with the opposition, putting the tense nation at ease. His recasting of the financial system as belonging to all of us and necessary for all of us to support was extraordinary.

And the squirming and general discomfort visible in the likes of John McNasty and Lindsey Graham were priceless. I thought John Boehner's spray-on tan might melt right off his face.

I agree with just about everything you said, with the exception of the healthcare comment. That stimulus bill included something like 400 pages of healthcare reform, which I objected to a) because something of that magnitude should've been kept out of an "URGENT" stimulus bill, so that it could be openly debated at length and b) I'm not some of what I read in there freaked me out, i.e. I really don't want the government tracking me medical records along with my phone records, my email records, and my credit card records.

-Chris

Are you in my country legally?

I enjoyed Obama's speech. I did feel a twinge of being manipulated by the populist red meat being tossed left and right, but I thought he hit the right balance of us taking responsibility for our futures. (I especially liked the call for everyone to go out and pursue additional education.)

I was floored by the brazen duplicity of Jindal's response. The line that stood out especially was, "We believe health care decisions should be made between a patient and his or her doctor." I said out loud, "except in the case of abortion." Which got a laugh from others watching with me.

I watched on CNN and liked the commentor who said in response to Anderson Cooper's observation that it was an aspirational speech, "Shouldn't we have a president who's aspirational?" Acheiving the goals he set out isn't something that he or even all three branches of government can do together. But he did leave me feeling we can do the things he set out, and do them in ways that are good for us and the generations to come.

Did Jindal not get a copy of Obama' speech before he prepared his statements? Jingle as I like to call him ,made a fool of himself He was so focused on being the opposition he totally ignored everything Obama said. If Jindal is the GOPs's hope for the future, I have confidence the Democrats will be in charge for a long time. Or did the republicans choose Jindal to respond as if to to say.. F you Democrats, f you America.

Great job on Hardball tonight, Joan. Love what you wrote- the speech was beautiful. You nailed it- Jindal was tone deaf at best.

I missed all the speechifying tonight, having slumbered away after putting my kids to bed.

I was thinking about Jindal's task earlier today, when I heard Chris Matthews say he would talk for a full ten minutes and denounce the Obama agenda.

Charts and graphs, I thought. It's corny, but it gets you away from the teleprompter and shows some guts. Think Bob Dole with his mock health care charts (remember the patient in the top left corner and the doctor in the bottom right, with a blob of bureaucratic flow charts in between?). Or, more optimistically, think Walt Disney and his map of the experimental prototype community of tomorrow. But don't just sit around, or walk around like Nixon during Checkers. You could make a good chart on the national debt, for example, or on gross annual spending under Obama. It sounds like Bobby failed my test. I'm glad.

Speaking of debut speeches, remember how Palin's "didn't count" because she only read it? "Scholars" like Jindal can do so much more. Well, nobody told Sarah to blow a kiss to a POW whose eyeglasses filled with tears as she honored him. That's why, for GOP'ers, she's the real deal.