A reader writes:
I have to disagree on your take – I liked the tone of optimism sorely missing from debates, the appeals to reasoned patriotism, and the attempts to propose some areas of common interest that will at least paint the GOP into a corner.
However, you I will give you this much – as a tax lawyer who earns his living navigating the complexities of the Internal Revenue Code for the Fortune 500 and a variety of technology companies, financial institutions and investment funds, this speech has me salivating at my own career prospects for the foreseeable future. I can picture my clients’ sweat and anxiety trying to unpack the various credits, costs, incentives, opportunities, penalties and pitfalls that were outlined in only a small portion of that speech.
And the openings for lobbyists, large and small! This was a very Washington speech. But look, maybe I was cranky today. Maybe I misread the entire thing. I'm totally fallible. I have to react in real time. This reader makes the most cogent case for why I'm wrong:
C'mon man. The speech was a political masterstroke. Remember the chessmaster debate? Well this puts him two moves from checkmate.
It did exactly what it needed to do, which was to make him sound like the reasonable adult in a town full of insolent children. So…what? He should have proposed another hopeless grand vision that would proceed to go nowhere and play right into a Republican narrative about his ineffectual, overreaching nature? Or he should frame himself, and democrats at large, as the sober party in Washington.
My 84 year old grandmother, who has been taking a 20 minute break from Fox news every week to call me and comment bitterly on what "that boy" (yeah she goes there) is doing to this country, just told me that she found it refreshing after listening to the Republican candidates' insanity for 7 months. "He'll get the job done," she tells me! If she votes for him, the Republicans are in more trouble than they know.
You know when the grand vision will come? A year from today, when Obama's back in office with, Newt willing, a democratic majority and republicans who may finally see that rank obstructionism isn't a key to electoral success. You're telling me that Obama's second inaugural wouldn't be one for this history books? You think we have a better chance at tax reform under Mitt Romney?
Buck up, Andrew! Have some faith in your own thesis – Obama's playing the long game and doing it rather well.
I'll get some sleep, and think this through some more. But thanks for all the emails taking me to task. There was a lot of love in that stream of vitriol. Seriously. You wouldn't be so mad if you didn't give a damn.
The Dish 