President Obama gave a very powerful speech making his case for health care reform. Watching Republicans confused as to whether they should stand and applaud various lines was telling. He had them completely off balance.
Of course, the line every pundit will talk about is the GOP congressman -- reportedly Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) -- who yelled "you lie" during the first part of the president's speech. It was so astoundingly rude that it's almost certain to backfire and will give the president a few extra approval points among the American public.
Make no mistake about it: President Obama and the Democrats are not going to back down until they get this bill done.
Other reactions:
Andrew Sullivan: "A masterful speech, somehow a blend of governance and also campaigning. He has Clinton's mastery of policy detail with Bush's under-rated ability to give a great speech. But above all, it is a reprise of the core reason for his candidacy and presidency: to get past the abstractions of ideology and the easy scorn of the cable circus and the cynicism that has thereby infected this country's ability to tackle pressing problems. This was why he was elected, and we should not be swayed by the old Washington and the old ideologies and the old politics. He stands at the center urging a small shift to more government because the times demand it."
Jonathan Cohn: "On the policy front, President Obama tonight endorses, clearly and unambiguously, a requirement that everybody obtain insurance -- that is, an individual mandate. He has not done that before, not this explicitly... The tone is pretty striking, too. Obama reaches out to Republicans in several places. But he also comes down hard--very hard--on opponents who are merely out to defeat reform."
Chris Cilliza: "For those -- particularly on the liberal left -- who criticized the president for not being aggressive enough in responding to the misinformation being peddled about the plan, this speech was for you... The simple fact is for health care reform to pass, the White House needs a fired up liberal base to pressure lawmakers to vote for it. The confrontational elements of this speech -- and there were many -- were designed to get the base excited again and ready them for the final fight to come."
Nate Silver: "This was not a home-run kind of speech; he was trying to leg this one
out, and say a lot of different things to satisfy a lot of different
constituencies. But I think it was a stand-up triple."
