by Benjamin J. Kirby
Well, the Conventions are over and we have 60 days until Election Day. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for this last stretch.
Just a quick reaction to President Obama's speech last night: it was pitch-perfect. I said on my Facebook feed at one point last night:
This is a great speech -- and it's one only the Community Organizer-in-Chief could deliver. Time for us to get to work.
After sleeping on it, I'm feeling that sentiment more than ever.
It was a speech that actually accomplished a lot -- which is exactly why it wasn't the soaring oratory we're used to from Obama. It had practical, grassroots work to do.
First, it was a speech in which the President basically asked us for more time -- and our help in giving him that time. He framed the ecnomic issues in what I thought was the appropriate frame: a complex series of problems requiring more than a financial reporting quarter, more than a few months. More than a few years.
While the other side was vacant with respect to foreign policy, President Obama reminded us that he continues to untangle us from two wars. He did that, and honored the men and women who have served in these wars. Joe Biden speaking on the returning soldiers and sailors who have served in these wars was one of the more moving moments of the evening, by the way.
Obama managed to get in some criticism of his opponent as well, though. I thought this was the most under-appreciated part of the speech. He didn't frame it as "me" versuse "the other guy." It wasn't about him. He spoke about the choice we face, the pat we're on together, and how we must understand the truth we hired him to speak to, and do the work ourselves.
I don't know a whole lot about community organizing. What I do know is it requires folks in neighborhoods and communities across demographic and geographic spectrums to get involved, to get active, to get to work. In other words, it's the old Dean fifty-state strategy writ, well, small. And it worked awfully well in 2008.
The President says he needs more time, and he needs us to get to work. I'm inclined to help him. How about you?
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Mitt Romney, by the way, has doubled down on not praising American troops in his Convention speech.
"...you talk about the things you think are important."
How is it President Obama makes us look weak on the global stage, again?
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Last month I mentioned it when the Koch Brothers -- and the GOP -- basically gave up on Pennsylvania, giving up their TV ad buy.
Looks like they're pulling their ads from Michigan, too, where Obama leads by about 3%. The electoral path for a Romney victory is getting narrower and narrower.
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So, the new jobs numbers are out. They're not all that great:
U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs last month, a weak figure that could slow the momentum President Barack Obama hoped to gain from his speech Thursday night to the Democratic National Convention.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent in July. But that was only because more people gave up looking for jobs. People who are out of work are counted as unemployed only if they're looking for a job.
Here's the Magic Chart:
Not as bad as June, or even April and May. Not as good as July.
Still on the plus side of the ledger.
And this is what the man meant when he said more time.
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It's finally Friday.
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