February 10, 2009, 8:20 A.M.
I got home from a County Commission meeting last night just in time to catch the last third of the President’s press conference. Man, is he impressive. Just three weeks into office and President Obama has an astounding command of facts and issues. He answered multipart questions with ease and grace and his answers were informative, illustrative and imaginative. He really sounded like he knew what he was talking about. What a refreshing change.
It appears as though the civility thing is here to stay, as is this new “knowledge” thing. The President, while selling his stimulus bill to all of us, did not degenerate to partisan sniping. Oh, sure, he took a few good shots at “those who got us into this mess” (I’m paraphrasing), but this was not the focus. The focus was on getting a bill passed and the money flowing into our cash-starved economy.
President Obama is on the road selling the stimulus package in areas hardest hit by the current recession and his sales pitch is good and appealing. People are lining up for hours to see and hear him. Less than a month into his presidency, President Obama is already making a dramatic impact in terms of his ability to instill confidence and to allay fears in a really uncertain and scary time.
Of course, popularity, oratory skill and political savvy don’t mean anything without substance and I think this President has it all. Listening to his answers last night left me secure in my belief that this guy really is up to this job, that he is smart and that he has a plan to move forward economically, militarily and indeed politically. I’m sleeping better than I have in eight years.
