Obama Throws Down The Gauntlet!

There was a hilarious sketch earlier this year on “Saturday Night Live” in which President Barack Obama is shown compromising his agenda in one congressional visit after another, until he finally loses his cool and morphs into  “The Rock” Obama–portrayed by the host of that episode, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The newly energized Obama tosses his disagreeable tormentors–including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi–out the White House window. We finally got a taste of the real-life “The Rock” Obama in his speech last night to Congress and the nation.

President Barack Obama deployed his most effective weapon–his powerful rhetorical skills–to  marginalize his opponents and  galvanize both Congress and the nation into action on health care reform. 

Like a grownup quieting a bunch of loud, quarreling children, President Obama methodically and forcefully reinforced the many areas where everyone seems to agree, while leaving wiggle room on the few areas where consensus has escaped him.

And while trying to ease the irrational fears of those who see boogeymen under the bed–the frightening specter of “death panels” and “socialism”–by taking on those shamelessly spreading misinformation and outright lies, President Obama was not above playing the fear card himself.