Written By : William Teach

Did I watch the speech? No. I went to the gym. Did I listen to it on my MP3 player with a radio or read the captions on the TV? No. Like the really boring “Interview with the Vampire” and horrible “Terminator: Salvation”, I felt no need to read or watch Obama’s speech. I’ve seen and read it before (full transcript here). But, fortunately, the Politico’s Glenn Thrush is there to cheerlead

Like a getaway driver desperately trying to shake a tail, President Barack Obama executed a hairpin turn from deficits to jobs Thursday, daring Republicans to follow him.

The problem for Obama – even the fiery, focused Obama who addressed a joint session of Congress Thursday – is that his political fate in 2012 is tied to the unforgiving, largely uncontrollable metrics of economic misery.

See? It’s not his fault, everything that happens is out of his control, and you mean, evil, raaaaacist TEA party members should stop blaming him.

And none of his potential GOP opponents will be held accountable if Obama’s $447 billion proposal fails to stem the economy’s ominous slide, while all of them will arguably profit if he fails.

Want to bet? The media and the Democrats will surely blame the GOP if the plan fails. Of course, it will not pass the House. At least not as written. If it has been written. Speaker Boehner should have done a one minute response to Obama and simply said “Thank you for telling us what your plan is, Mr. President. You say you want us to pass it right away. You said that numerous times. We’ll, we can’t pass a speech, so, we’ll expect to see it first thing Friday morning.”

But the White House and Obama campaign officials feel they regained some of the initiative, and say his speech accomplished three major goals by reaffirming his leadership with a credible jobs bill, putting Republicans on the defensive, and bucking up demoralized Democrats, who have lately taken to musing publicly about their leader’s backbone.

In other words, it was a campaign speech.

…Thursday night, he pivoted left, angrily demanding “immediate” action on a relatively modest jobs package, while promising retribution against anyone who stands in his way — by implication Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the entire GOP congressional leadership.

So, we saw Angry Man again? Making threats? Wow, that’s some great leadership skill you’ve learned, Mr. Obama. What a fantastic way to get people who have different ideas to work with you.

Even the Politico’s Roger Simon sighed over the speech. In a bad way

Another day, another speech. A speech that promised more speeches. And so Barack Obama, who once soared on the wings of hope, now plods on the leaden feet of reality.

The only job Obama is worried about is his own. He has no idea how to create jobs. Certainly, passing the legislation on free trade agreements and patent reform will happen (if Obama has sent them over to Congress as of yet), but, they are not big jobs creators. Passing payroll tax reductions will pass, though it has already been shown that it doesn’t work. The actual spending, though, very doubtful. The GOP led House should take what is left of the Porkulus, and reallocate the money towards programs that actually work.

Obama also wants, shockingly, tax increases on “the rich”. Lead the way, Mr. Obama. Put your money where your mouth is, and send a nice, fat check to the IRS. Tell those campaign donors who pay upwards of $38,000 for a photo with you to instead send the money to the IRS. Walk the talk.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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