The Speech: What They’re Saying

pA roundup of Thursday night quotes and reactions, from blogs and traditional media. First a newsreel:/pobject width=”425″ height=”344″ param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/LBhoFHSg1xUamp;hl=enamp;fs=1amp;”/paramparam name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”/paramparam name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”/paramembed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/LBhoFHSg1xUamp;hl=enamp;fs=1amp;” width=”425″ height=”344″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always”/embed/objectpHighlights from online commentary:/pulli p a href=”http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/09/liveblogging-healthcare.html” target=”_blank”strongAndrew Sullivan/strong/a: quot;This passage brings the bipartisan peroration to a real close: ‘That large-heartedness ndash; that concern and regard for the plight of others ndash; is not a partisan feeling. It is not a Republican or a Democratic feeling. It, too, is part of the American character. Our ability to stand in other peoplersquo;s shoes. A recognition that we are all in this together; that when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand. A belief that in this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play; and an acknowledgement that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise.’ This is a liberalism most centrists can live with.quot;nbsp;/p/lilip a href=”http://www.openleft.com/diary/15021/hitting-the-jackpot” target=”_blank”strongOpen Left/strong/a: quot;[H]e hit the jackpot tonight. I have been listening closely to Presidential speeches for about 35 years now, have watched quite a few oldies but goodies from the past, have even contributed ideas to a fair share of speeches in the Clinton years, and I am sitting here thinking that was one of the very best Presidential speeches I have ever heard. JFK’s inaugural and a couple of FDR’s best are the only ones I can think of that moved me so much. More importantly, though, he did everything he needed to do: Lay out clearly what he strongly believes in; make a powerful argument for why we need to get this done; answer the phony scare tactics; [and] fire up the people around the country who want to get this done to keep working to make it happen.quot; /p/lilip a href=”http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/019859.php” target=”_blank”strongWashington Monthly/strong/a: quot;Obama went big, sold the plan, and actually explained how this would work. It was as strong as I’ve seen him on health care mdash; which means he came through with the right speech at the right time hellip; And if someone at the DNC and/or White House political operation can just take the last five minutes or so of that speech, and keep airing it in a constant loop, I’d appreciate it. Brilliant stuff.quot; /p/li/ulpWhat are you seeing? Share your links in the comments. /p