Welcome Back, Mr. President

I went into our president's speech yesterday with middling expectations, given his forgettable last address, on Libya. That message about our latest military venture abroad lacked the  conviction and context many Americans were seeking and failed to soothe nerves about our constant willingness to invade countries in possession of oil reserves. (I don't recall Obama making a peep about the Ivory Coast massacres.)

But Obama's disappointing performance as the Democratic leader, let alone as a leader for all of us, is the primary reason for my initial lack of enthusiasm this round. I, like many progressives, feel let down – even hopeless – over the current administration's lack of results. The man who in his presidential campaign (2.0 now gearing up) seemed larger than life and promised us CHANGE has proven very much of the same old, same old strain. His growing list of false promises includes the ending of rendition, domestic electronic surveillance (now expanded), military tribunals, and exiting Iraq (now possibly to be extended). And Gitmo's still going strong. And the stimulus was watered down with tax cuts. And the health care "debate" devolved into screaming (literally) chaos until Obama stepped in at the eleventh hour. But he also never entertained the public option (which a majority of Americans support), instead mandating payments to our bloated, profiteering health insurance companies, which the Supreme Court may soon deem unconstitutional. And now, amidst ginned-up deficit chaos, Obama has given the farm away yet again, acceding to the Republicans’ most extreme demands before even beginning to barter.

But Wednesday's speech marked a shift away from this regression. It reminded me of another of his golden moments since entering the White House, his speech on race following the phony brouhaha over Reverend Jeremiah Wright. President Obama spoke words and struck a tone that gave me pause, rising above the fray in a lovely moment which finally helped Americans on all sides quietly reflect. Some, like me, found it awe-inspiring.

Well, we saw it again yesterday. Obama drew the proverbial line in the sand against an opposition dominated by radicals and devoted to further transferring resources from the needy to the wealthy. He's now pushing for the reversal of Bush’s tax cuts and asking those who've profited most from this country to return their fair share. And he acknowledged this last point in a way nobody else has:

"Most wealthy Americans want to give back to their country – Washington just hasn't asked them."

We've never heard this thought expressed from the Beltway before. Obama called a spade a spade and condemned the the Tea Party's unhinged mantra, finally spelling out that their claim of being unable to "win the future" (a phrase I'm still iffy on) is false: that we must continue to aim for the stars, but only by more wisely choosing our budget-slimming options. I was especially happy to hear him state that our defense department needs further trimming, even if he won't cut much, realistically. I was happy to see him defend a more viable health care system: transitioning from pay-per-procedure to a pay-per-wellness, electronic record-keeping, and Medicare negotiating lower drug prices for all Americans.

In other words, I was happy to see President Obama prove that he's a Democrat again. And while such a brief glimpse as this isn't enough to keep his liberal supporters happy, my hope is that his swing into re-election mode means the tough talk on behalf of the little guy is here to stay for the coming year. It's just too bad that finally standing up for the Democratic party again requires facing his own political mortality.