Visual source: Newseum
The New York Times:
With more than 14 million people out of work and all Americans fearing a double-dip recession, President Obama stood face to face Thursday night with a Congress that has perversely resisted lifting a finger to help. Some Republicans refused to even sit and listen. But those Americans who did heard him unveil an ambitious proposal — more robust and far-reaching than expected — that may be the first crucial step in reigniting the economy.
Perhaps as important, they heard a president who was lately passive but now newly energized, who passionately contrasted his vision of a government that plays its part in tough times with the Republicans’ vision of a government starved of the means to do so.
The president’s program was only a start, and it was vague on several important elements, notably a direct path to mortgage relief for troubled borrowers. And some of the tax cuts for employers may prove ineffective. Nonetheless, at $447 billion, the plan is large enough to potentially lower the unemployment rate and broad enough to be a significant stimulus.
Paul Krugman:
First things first: I was favorably surprised by the new Obama jobs plan, which is significantly bolder and better than I expected. It’s not nearly as bold as the plan I’d want in an ideal world. But if it actually became law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment.
Of course, it isn’t likely to become law, thanks to G.O.P. opposition. Nor is anything else likely to happen that will do much to help the 14 million Americans out of work. And that is both a tragedy and an outrage.
Dan Balz:
The address Thursday was the opening round of an administration offensive that will take the president outside Washington to make his case to the American people while Congress deliberates. He was explicit in his warning to the Republicans. “This plan is the right thing to do right now,” he said. “You should pass it. And I intend to take that message to every corner of the country.”
Obama spoke at a low point in his presidency. His standing has been weakened by public dissatisfaction over the effects of high and persistent unemployment. But just as worrisome for the White House are questions about whether he is a leader with the strength and skills to make Washington work — one of the aftereffects of the just-concluded fight over raising the debt ceiling. [...]
But even as he urged action now before politics consumes the capital, both sides knew that this speech was also a political call to arms.
Obama walked a fine line Thursday. His strong rhetoric and explicit challenge to Republicans, as well as the size and specifics of the package, were designed to appeal to his restive base. His call for the two parties to set aside politics long enough to enact some job-creating measures was aimed at swing voters disgusted by the debt-ceiling spectacle and the sense that Washington is badly broken.
Ezra Klein:
The proposal itself is called “The American Jobs Act” and amounts to about $450 billion worth of ideas that have, at other times, commanded a bipartisan consensus. [...]
If all of that could be spent out in 2012 -- a big if, but given the reliance on tax cuts and state and local aid, much of it could certainly hit before the year’s end -- it would be bigger, in annual terms, than the Recovery Act. The White House also promises the entire proposal will be paid for, and the specific offsets will be released next week.
Harold Meyerson:
That was an enlivened President Obama we saw earlier this evening -- impassioned, indignant, non-professorial. And enlivened he should have been, because the American economy trembles on the brink of a double-dip recession, and the Republican opposition has been seized by an ideology that would erode what remains of the once-great American middle class. Not to mention, Obama’s own political future and that of his party are on the line as well.
For the past week, the White House has been deliberately low-balling its estimates of what the plan the president unveiled tonight would actually include. When word started getting around this afternoon that this new stimulus would be set at $447 billion for the next year -- a rate higher than the $787-billion-over-two-years stimulus that Congress enacted in 2009 -- leaders of groups representing the Democratic base breathed a sigh of relief. The size and the substance of this new stimulus give Obama and his party the ability not only to rally many of his disenchanted core supporters but to reach out to voters in the middle of the political spectrum.
That’s partly because more than half the package -- roughly $240 billion -- takes the form of a one-year payroll tax reduction for employees and employers that will be difficult for Republicans to oppose. The tax credits for employees who hire veterans are also a political winner, though the tax credit for companies that hire the long-term unemployed (which in Republican-speak will mean minorities, whose votes they’re not going to get anyway) is one that the GOP is almost sure to resist. Also likely to meet a Republican rejection are Obama’s proposals to build roads and schools, and to fund the retention and rehiring of tens of thousands of teachers.
Dana Milbank:
President Obama gave one of the most impassioned speeches of his presidency when he addressed a joint session of Congress Thursday night. Too bad so many in the audience thought it was a big, fat joke.
“You should pass this jobs plan right away!” Obama exhorted. Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) chuckled.
“Warren Buffet pays a lower tax rate than his secretary — an outrage he has asked us to fix,” Obama went on. Widespread laughter broke out on the GOP side of the aisle.
“This isn’t political grandstanding,” Obama said. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) guffawed.
“This isn’t class warfare,” Obama said. More hysterics on the right.
Aaron Blake and Chris Cillizza:
There was a word missing from President Obama’s jobs speech Thursday night: “stimulus.”
But Republicans were only too happy to inject that word into the debate into the after-action analysis of Obama’s speech.
“President Obama’s call for nearly a half-trillion dollars in more government stimulus when America has more than $14 trillion in debt is guided by his mistaken belief that we can spend our way to prosperity,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
“Tonight Virginia families heard a political speech from President Obama calling for more of the same big spending proposals and job-crushing tax hikes,” said former senator George Allen (R-Va.).
Added Republican National Committe Chairman Reince Priebus: “Despite one failed stimulus, the President wants even more deficit spending.”
The Republicans’ strategy is clear here: Turn this into a battle over Stimulus 2.0.
And if they can do that, they have a good shot of winning the debate.