Barack the House

President Obama nailed it tonight. In his first Presidential address to a joint session of Congress, he was calm, cool, and collected, with his trademark blend of style and substance. He took President Clinton's note to heart, mixing sobriety with hopefulness, not being too much of an economic Debbie Downer, and he provided something we haven't seen from a President before Congress in a long time: an ambitious domestic agenda guided by logic and by a desire to re-boot this country. (Also note the lack of fear-mongering, although Bobby Jindal threw in some in his rebuttal--shocker.)

It was also impossible to ignore Obama's clear rock-star status during his entrance and exit. I was reminded of a Salon.com article on Rachel Maddow's sex appeal--probably seems totally unrelated, but in it, Judy Berman argues that it is Maddow's intelligence and authenticity that make her so appealing to so many. Barack's mega-watt smile and well-tailored suits certainly don't hurt him, but it is his substance that has endeared him to the American people.

As for Bobby Jindal's response... pretty awkward. First, he tried the "I'm just like Barack" tactic with his back-story, but he just doesn't have the delivery. Michael Steele, Bobby Jindal... the GOP keeps trying to find a Barack equivalent. (Maybe they should be taking cues from his aforementioned substance, not his surface.) Anyway, Jindal sounded like the owner of a car dealership on a low-budget local commercial, with a dash of second-rate second-grade teacher reading a story aloud to her class: all false smiles and condescension. We'll see how stiffing his constituents of their stimulus dollars in last-time-I-checked-not-so-rich Louisiana affects his popularity. The whole thing was such a clear power grab ("I'm a possible nominee in 2012! Look at me! Look at me!") that it was mostly just uncomfortable to watch.

Again, though, great work by President Obama. I'm still not quite buying what he's selling when it comes to his claim to be anti-torture. I'm also sure he knows that the only thing out-pacing his popularity rating right now is his ambition, and he's got a lot to follow through on. Still, he's setting things in motion. From his notable denouncement of high-school dropouts to his referencing of everyday heroes, he showed a willingness to both lead and listen. The combination is refreshing.