President-elect Obama’s first speech since the election won’t likely be remembered much by history, especially compared with his upcoming inaugural address. Nevertheless, it was an important moment because it marked the beginning of his new campaign, to sell a massive stimulus plan he hopes will make 2009 the low point for the American economy rather than merely the second year of a more prolonged slump. Here are a few things that jumped out at me as he spoke at George Mason University on Thursday morning.
1. It will be good to have a president who uses moderately big words. I loved the expression “paradox and the promise of this moment” referring to a time when so many are out of work and yet there’s so much work to be done. Maybe paradox isn’t such a toughie, but merely having a leader with oratorical ambition will be a joy for a nation used to being talked to like fourth graders.
2. Obama’s overarching economic themes aren’t so very different from Bush’s. Obama plans to embrace tax cuts, stimulus and even entitlement reform, something he explicitly said in a late debate would have to wait until his second term. These are all themes the current president pursued, some more successfully than others. Obama is showing his pragmatic streak in other areas as well, as John Heilemann recently noted in New York Magazine with regard to Obama’s indicated foreign policy.
3. I wish Obama wouldn’t have said that “our government already has spent a good deal of money” on the recovery. By stressing spending he missed an opportunity to point out that so far what Washington has done most of is lending. The spending essentially starts now, and by drawing this distinction he would have helped his cause.
4. I’m all for transparency, but I fear Obama’s faith in posting government spending online is misplaced. Reporters and other watchdogs have been calling out bridges-to-nowhere for years. Politicians are like used-car salesmen, with apologies to used-car salesmen: extremely difficult to shame or embarrass.
5. Having said that, Obama’s distinction between earmarks and pork as business as usual and what he expects in this legislation was intriguing. When he said, “I understand that every member of Congress has ideas on how to spend money. Many of these projects are worthy, and benefit local communities. But this emergency legislation must not be the vehicle for those aspirations,” he seemed to be acknowledging that it’s folly to think we can eradicate the ways of Washington. Will members of Congress honor his request to refrain from politicking for a bit? Don’t count on it.
Obama isn’t perfect, but he’s off to a good start. I’m encouraged.