Pundits have had their say but it's the voters this speech was aimed at, that's one point of consensus among analysts. And what do swing voters say? According to Democracy Corps they say "yes, more please."
Democracy Corps, the research house founded by James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, brought 50 swing voters in to focus group last night's speech. These 50 had given more votes to candidate Obama than candidate McCain but leaned to the right (44% Republicans and 32% Democrats). Prior to the speech 50% of them approved of the President's job performance and the same percentage gave him a favorable personal rating.
After the speech?
Obama Job Approval 58 (+8)
Obama Thermometer Rating 66 (+16)
Has Good Plans for the Economy 54 (+18)
Creating New Jobs 52 (+18)
For the Middle Class 66 (+24)
Energy: Total Confident 68 (+22)
Bringing Americans Together 56 (+20)
Understands Issues That are Important to My Life 62 (+20)
Makes Me Hopeful When I Hear Him 66 (+28)
Seems clear from these results that the speech hit the mark. If the President keeps this up during the 2012 campaign, it will be very hard for Romney/Gingrich/UnknownGOPSavior to beat him.