Well That Was Disappointing
The President's speech from the Oval Office was a major failure in my view. He missed a golden opportunity to really hit one out of the park. A good example is talking about the clean energy bill, yet he did not use the power of his office and speech to urge Senate to pass it.
That's a big miss Mr. President.
When Bush wanted something done he went in front of the cameras and started chastising the Senate into doing it. It was actually a rather effective approach, and not one all that uncommon. I know Obama used to be in the Senate, but he has to stop acting like it. He needs to push the changes he campaigned on through, and right now energy alternatives is a big one that needs pushed through.
And what ever happened to the "yes we can" attitude? If we ever needed that, it's right now. We needed a forceful President Obama tonight pushing for a new energy future and following it up with a healthy dose of "yes we can". As many have said, we needed a Kennedy "put a man on the moon" speech and we didn't get it. Taegan Goddard sums it up very nicely:
Though Obama called for a "national mission" to transition to clean energy, he was vague on what he actually wants to see in a comprehensive energy bill. In doing so, Obama is just another president that has refused to ask Americans for the necessary sacrifice to finally achieve this greater national goal. He missed a golden opportunity.
That's exactly what we need and we didn't get it. Is he afraid that the Republicans won't agree with him? Well they still won't, so fuck them and move on.
Can we get the Barack Obama from 2008 back? We really need him right now. Back then candidate Obama never missed out on a golden opportunity like he did tonight.
