That's Why He's President and You're Not

++Andrew Sullivan called it his True Grit speech and cited Obama's eloquent ending about Cory Remsberg's difficult recovery from his tragic wounds from Afghanistan as a metaphor for the struggle of America and the President today. Josh Marshall liked the speech and thought the President had a snap and an upbeat message well delivered. Eugene Robinson said it was Obama's finest State of the Union. Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly thought it resembled some of Clinton's laundry list speeches but caught himself and noted that Stan Greenberg for Democracy Corps had a focus group on the speech and that Obama's support of women in the work place made the dials go off the charts in favorables. Kilgore's point was that Obama needed to bring back single women for the 2014 elections.

++Josh Marshall was right, the speechwriting was first-rate. The Libretto did become an opera with Obama's delivery and pacing. 

++The Charlie Rose who had Doris Kearns, James Fellows and Mark Halperin on to respond. All thought it was an excellent speech and Fellow called it Reaganesque. 

++The speech had clearly been poll-tested. All Obama's proposals have overwhelming support of the American people. Some writers think he outlined clearly the direction for the Democrats in 2014 and afterwards the Democrats showed unusual unity in support. John Lewis said the President still stood tall and had the courage to fight on.

++David Corn said he should have explained why he was going to take executive action and lay the blame on Republicans. A commentator wrote that the lack of strong partisanship except with an occasional jab was what was needed because the country is fed up with political rhetoric.

++The most interesting effect was that in a town of total bummers the President reminded us of optimism and positive thinking. The contrast between him and Congress is shocking. This is a man who had a bounce in his step and a clear vision about how to move the country along. It was actually refreshing to see that he wasn't dragged down into the snake pit like everyone else. Yes, there were many things he has said before but ,in Andrew Sullivan's words, you have to admire his persistence. If the United States recovers from its doldrums by the end of his term,President Obama is going to reap the lion's share of the credit. 

++CNN has 76% responding positive to the speech with the usual 22% believing it is negative. 

++Democratic Underground had 69% give the President an A and 23% a B. 

++The Daily Kos had 49% give him an A and 33% a B for the speech.

++Joan Welsh at Salon said we all missed the story. The story last night was the utter disarray in the GOP. Ms. Morris didn't flop it and Sweeney Todd like her response. But she claimed the GOP had lots of plans for the economy but never mentioned on concrete idea. She prayed for all of us. Rand Paul gave a libertarian response which basically called for the elimination of government, lowering taxes and ending the social welfare net as the solution to the country's problems. Mike Lee said that a new generation of "reformers" aka the Tea Party are in Washington but failed to say how they would reform the town.

++Brian Beutler at Salon basically said the Right was now reviled and offers up nothing.

++As with most things Obama,the bland ideas if taken together and adopted would profoundly alter the country for the better. In the next year, it will be interesting to see where the most mundane ideas go.

++The Obama Derangement Syndrom continued last night. Steven Stockman, the missing congressman from Texas, showed up only to walk out in protest of Obama violating the constitution aka using executive orders. Rand Paul said he would sue Obama again like they did for recess appointments. A Tennesee congress critter tweeted he was the socialist Commander in Chief. A Kansas congressman lamented there was no mention of Benghazi and that Obama used the military--aka Corey Remsberg--for political purposes and is weakening the military by withdrawing from Afghanistan and trying to close Gitmo. The GOP congresscritters took the time to be photographed with Father Duck of the Duck Dynasty.

++Ms. Lindsey Graham responded that Obama was not aware that the earth is going to blow up.

++There were many highlights from the President's speech which I may get around to. But he was the only adult in the room last night and it was good to see he hasn't been worn down by the Bummers.

Black Friday

++President Obama hasn't resigned today as Larry Klayman demanded. A right-wing website said that President Obama has other plans--declaring martial law and putting Americans in FEMA camps. He will use foreign troops to do it.

++Politico today has an article on 50 people who have already filed papers with the FEC to run for President in 2016. Quite a crew. A fun read.

++A birther preacher claims the woman shot down after crashing the White House gates this past week was the mother of Obama's "love child". 

++Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media says that Pope Francis long papal letter on "reckless capitalism" shows the Marxist problem inside the Church.

++David Gregory interviews Cardinal Dolan tomorrow who says that the Catholic Church has been "out marketed" on same sex marriage and the Church isn't really anti-gay.

++Washington Monthly today has an analysis why the Post's warnings about a Republican wave election should be taken with a grain of salt. Democrats defended over 250 seats in 2010, many of them in Republican-leaning districts.

++Also in Washington Monthly, James Wimberley uses the various numbers on Obamacare and Medicaid expansion to write "Thanks to Obamacare,One million people now have health insurance". 

++Brian Beutler in Salon writes about "What To Expect with Obamacare's November 30 Re-launch."

++Kathleen Sebelius at Huffington Post writes how to holiday shop on Healthcare.gov. Use the off-hours.

++Paul Krugman keeps on going. At first, he wasn't going to write about Obamacare but now he comes in with a blog on its Cost Savings.

++Tim Egan in today's New York Times writes" Rooting for Failure", an analysis on the GOP actually rooting for America to fail throughout the Obama Presidency. He asks the readers to try and remember when a major political party openly wished initiatives to assist Americans fail. From the auto bailout, the stimulus,the Affordable Care Act, the list goes on.

++Meanwhile, 76,000 New Yorkers have signed up for health insurance on that state's exchange. 

++The Post worries today that maybe not enough young people will sign up for health insurance to make premium costs affordable.

++Buzzfeed has a story about a website that tracks those killed or injured during Black Thursday. Protesters here in Alexandria, Virginia were arrested at Walmart's and elsewhere in the state other shoppers shot each other.