Five Minutes Before Midnight or Five Minutes Before Dawn

The comparison between Paul Ryan and Barack Obama's speeches. Paul Ryan captured the new post-Reagan conservatism with his dire predictions that America was like Greece. No more American Exceptionalism on the GOP side. Conservatism now has settled back into its primordial pessimism. In fact, this is now the subject of new books urging conservatives embraced this fundamental aspect of their philosophy. Paul Ryan embraced it whole hog yesterday. Speaking to Rachel Maddow last night, Anthony Weiner,Democrat from New York, pointed to the difference between Obama's uplifting speech and Ryan's bummer. "I think I need a drink," he said. Weiner also got in the best shot at Michelle Bachmann saying, "She's not connected to the Mothership."

Did anyone catch the live feed on MSNBC of Michelle Bachmann setting up for her speech? You got to see her adjusting her bra and skirt. And prepping herself. The teleprompter was set up in the wrong position so she looked like she was staring in the wong camera and looking wall-eyed. But Red State's Eric Ericson thought she was the best because she had a power point presentation, neglecting to mention if you watched the SOTU on the White House website you would have slides also. I guess he thought it was reminiscent of Ross Perot. Or may Lyndon Larouche's fireside chats with his socks falling down. It was not the teabaggers greatest moment. Freepers slammed Fox News for runnning the live feed as a deliberate plot to make Bachmann look bad.

Could someone tell me--please--why Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell was allowed on ABC Good Morning, America to comment on the President's speech or on anything at all. She called Obama "hypocritical" because he used "tea party sound-bites" to introduce big government spending programs.

Or could someone tell me why anyone should actually comment on Rand Paul's "plan" to cut $500 billion from the budget when he has been in elected office all of two weeks? Did we ask Kristin Gillibrand for her budget when she was first elected?

Slate accused President Obama of whipping up nationalist fervor to fight the Asians economically.

Oh yes, Michelle Obama did wear a dress by an American designer last night. She had been criticized for wearing a non-American dress at the Chinese banquet. Maybe it really is five minutes before midnight.

The Drudge Report opened today with an article saying that Hawaii didn't have any of Obama's birth materials. Then he had a header that Republicans began the day cutting spending. This is the old House-Fox scenario so you get to believe in the alternative reality.

Rachel Maddow called the speech a prayer to the free markert and Howard Fineman called it the most pro-business speech by a Democrat. Fineman in a piece entitled "Love Train" talked about the oddity of Obama getting Boehner to clap so many times and the standing ovations for "science fairs". He also remarked on how odd it was to see Bernie Sanders giving a standing ovation to the line about allowing ROTC back onto college campuses.

Bloggers had some fun. At the "Sputnik moment", they posted the song "Telstar". Another commented that Boehner keep looking around as if he had lost his olive. Others commented on the line of glasses placed in front of Boehner. Another noted that Obama can't really deliver a joke. They were referring to his Reaganesque reference of the government agencies needed to monitor Salmon in fresh water, Salmon in salt water and another agency on smoked salmon.

Paul Krugman expressed his surprised satifaction with the speech. He said the best thing was that Obama did not " surrender to the fiscal austerity now now now types."

It's a good thing he didn't as the UK's Conservative Government's crash austerity drive seems to have created a double dip recession for the country. Maybe that's why Andrew Sullivan has been sick lately. He was an enthusiast for this type of thing.

Senator Thune opened this morning by opposing infrastructure spending. The AFL-CIO with a statement by Richard Trumpka came out blazing in favor of the speech and endorsing the president's plan for instrastructure spending. Other unions were fairly supportive of the contents of the President's address. I was even surprised by the statement by the NEA on his section about education.

So from 80% approving Obama's Tucson speech, we move to 91% approving Obama's speech according to CBS, and 84% being very or somewhat positive about the speech. 9% in CBS polls were disappointed; 15% in CNN.

With Obama out in Wisconsin today, a NBC/WSJ poll puts Obama at 56% approval rating in the Midwest, which is up 13 pts since December. And the Midwest is where the election is.

But I can't help thinking that Win The Future is an unfortunate slogan. Either you think WTF. Or it recalls Gerald Ford's WIN--Whip Inflation Now!.