Like Ezra Klein, I have taken to watching White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' daily briefings. Before I wondered if his style really worked in that slot (Gibbs was very very good during the campaign.) I must admit he is really coming into his own now. Anyway, Ezra spotted this exchange:

Q On jobs, which is the big complaint up on Capitol Hill right now from Republicans, that this plan is a job killer, I mean, the $787 billion plan was all about jobs more than anything else, and now you've got a plan in place that -- how can you possibly tax people making over $250,000 something like $667 billion over the next 10 years and not have a downward effect on jobs?

MR. GIBBS: Well, Chip, how did it work in 1994 and 1995 and 1996 and 1997?

Great answer. And a great corollary would be how did cutting taxes during the Bush years work out for the economy? Yes, Bill Clinton did some good things. Glad to see Gibbs is not afraid to say so.

Speaking for me only

Attorney General Eric Holder today said the Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban and a ban on "cop killer" bullets.

"As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters."

Just a few?

I did not watch much of Governor Bobby Jindal's response last night and frankly, have not paid much attention to what Republicans have been saying about much of anything lately. There is a reason for this - Democrats hold the Presidency and the Congress. Unless the Roberts Court decides to become the Lochner Court, the policies and solutions to our current crisis is in the hands of the Democratic President and Congress. There will be no sharing of the credit or the blame now.

All of the critiques of the Republicans, such as this one from David Brooks, are irrelevant in my view:

Writing about President Obama's speech last night, The NYTimes says:

The economic crisis requires immediate, bold and comprehensive action. And on Tuesday night, Mr. Obama displayed the ambition and the sweeping vision that won him the White House — and that this crisis demands.

Perhaps. But "vision" in a speech must translate, contra Lakoff, into policies that work to realize that vision. Tellingly, the Times adds:

It was a refreshing change after his less-than-forceful handling of the stimulus bill. . . . We can now only hope that Mr. Obama will use his 2010 budget proposal, which he unveils this week, to forcefully press his broader economic agenda.

President Obama's speech lacked specificity, particularly on the financial crisis. As The Times writes:

I thought it was ok, but short on specifics. I give it a B-. Not his best, not his worst.

What did you think?

Also give us your thoughts on Jindal's response. I'm sweating my Gators right now. Gators done.

I'll do my best to live blog it below the fold. Not promising much. Add your thoughts in comments.

Update (TL): Excerpts of speech are here.

When I discuss President Obama's standing with the American People, I want people to understand the difference between political skills and political opportunities now and what the use of this political power to effect policy will mean come election time. Thus, when I write in a post below "Obama in command," it is not to endorse his policy initiatives to date (some I like, some I find inadequate), it is to describe the political moment. In their article discussing their latest poll, the NYTimes captures the moment as I see it:

President Obama is benefiting from remarkably high levels of optimism and confidence among Americans about his leadership, providing him with substantial political clout as he confronts the nation’s economic challenges and opposition from nearly all Republicans in Congress, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

How President Obama uses this political clout (hopefully to enact efficacious policies), particularly on the economy, will determine his fate (political and historical). His FDR opportunity remains, in no small measure due to his immense political talent. Let's hope he does not squander the opportunity.Speaking for me only

I know we have all been sweating the vacancy at Commerce, but Political Wire has the reassuring news:

President Obama has chosen former Washington Gov. Gary Locke (D) as his nominee to be Commerce secretary.

We can all breathe now. BTW, Judd who?

Speaking for me only

This dkos diary has me chuckling because well Tweety had to go a decade ago really. But I also think it really misses something that has happened in President Obama's first month in office - at least imo - he has forged a relationship of trust with the American People. He is a tremendous politician. The cable chatter and the Media chatter do not matter, as his poll results demonstrate.

I think we have to agitate for our views (see Digby, Jane Hamsher and Greenwald all the time), but at this point, President Obama's political fate (and historical fate for that matter) will be completely determined by the efficacy of his policies. Anyone watching his masterful performance today in his presser at the end of the silly "fiscal sensibility" conference could see it - it was President Obama in command. It is how it feels and how I think the American People perceive it.

[More...]

Watching Andrea Mitchell positively gushing over Hillary Clinton today on her MSNBC show makes clear that, to date, President Obama's choice of Clinton for Secretary of State has been his most successful one. While many of us believed Clinton could make great contributions in the Senate (and no doubt she would have), it is becoming quite clear that President Obama better understood the great advantages that a Secretary of State Clinton brings to the table. In short, after President Obama himself, the United States has no more powerful messenger in the world than Hillary Clinton.

At daily kos, diarist Working Class Hero provides some very interesting coverage of Secretary Clinton's trip to Indonesia. More . . .

EJ Dionne posits that President Obama is recognizing the moment:

More striking was his sense that fate has handed him opportunities few presidents ever get and that his test will be whether he makes good use of his chance to bend history at one of its "inflection points." "Leadership at those moments can help determine which direction that wave of change goes," he said. "I think it's very hard . . . for any single individual or politician to unleash historical momentum on its own. But I think when that historical wave is there, I think you can help guide it."

Asked if this were one of those moments, he replied, flatly, "yes." That may make the situation "scary sometimes," but it should also "make people determined and excited." Maybe that explains his good mood.

This is good, and if Dionne is right, it gets better:

From Jane Hamsher, good to see the Obama team recognize what some of the President's supporters refuse to see:

Mr. Emanuel owned up to one mistake: message. What he called the outside game slipped away from the White House last week, when the president and others stressed bipartisanship rather than job creation as they moved toward passing the measure. White House officials allowed an insatiable desire in Washington for bipartisanship to cloud the economic message a point coming clear in a study being conducted on what went wrong and what went right with the package, he said.

(Emphasis supplied.) This is good. Very good. Now, as Jane says, there really is no need to announce these things on the record, to assuage the peanut gallery (meaning people like me). Just do them. Oh BTW, stimulus bill passes House. How many GOP votes? Why ZERO of course.

Speaking for me only