To both houses of Congress and a nationally televised prime-time audience, an assertive and upbeat President Barack Obama continued his quest to make Americans feel better about the many problems facing the nation.

Call it a more uplifting truth. Way less talk of doom and gloom - way more inspiration and hope that times will get better before we are all dead and buried.

The result was a speech that America needed - one that provided the best evidence since Election Day why so many millions of Americans took a chance on the one-term senator from Illinois - the deep-in-your-bones feeling that he has the intellect, skills and moxie to pull the country from the ditch it's trapped in.

In his weekly address last week, Obama tried out new messaging designed to move away from the realistic but downbeat message of his first month in office - things are bad and they might be that way for a long time.

A light bulb must have gone off in the heads of Obama and his inner circle. Even Blind Mellow Jelly could see that economic times are terrible. Obama's constant words of doubt probably had some supporters saying to themselves "Why did I vote for you if all you keep saying is things won't get better anytime soon."

But Obama put an end to that talk Tuesday night. "We will rebuild and we will recover," his words, just three minutes into the address, brought the chamber to its feet for the first of many standing ovations.

Obama then laid out an agenda heavy on hope for the days ahead - more jobs for teachers, cops, and health care professionals, a restart of lending, a commitment to renewable energy, a reinvigorated search for a cancer cure, and most pointedly, a national attack on the high school dropout rate.

"Dropping out is not just quitting on yourselves," Obama said. "It is quitting on your country."

In a nod to Republicans in the house, Obama said he has identified two trillion dollars in budget savings over the next decade and promised his recently approved spending package won't saddle the nation's children with a debt they can't pay.

By the end of his address, one could have imagined Obama busting out of his charcoal grey and flexing WWE-style for the audience. In a way, it would have made some sense because after his historic election and a speech that had to leave even his sternest critics with hope that things will get better. Obama will never enjoy as much power with members of Congress as he possessed last night.




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Paul Shepard blogs the Democrat side of politics for Black Voices. He has been a journalist for 16 years on the national urban/minority affairs beat for The Cleveland Plain Dealer and for AP in Washington, D.C. He now runs his own public affairs firm, Shepard Strategic Communications.