Showtime for Obama

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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September 09, 2009

Showtime for Obama

President Obama delivers the most important speech of his presidency tonight before a joint session of Congress.

Jake Tapper reports that at Camp David over the weekend, President Obama "wrote out a draft of his health care reform speech -- 10 pages, written in longhand. He gave it to his speechwriters upon returning to the White House. Last night, at around 8:30, they gave him a typed copy of the latest draft and the president, a known night owl, worked on the speech last night."

Expect to see the speech previewed today as a "high stakes" or "make or break moment" for the Obama presidency. As Andrew Sullivan notes, "the media love drama, and the prospect of a sudden, Icarian fall to earth by the dashing new president is too good a story to miss."

But, as Howard Kurtz points out, Obama's "entire career is built upon words" and he's "reaching for the favorite arrow in his quiver."

The president will speak tonight at 8 p.m.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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September 09, 2009