The Apex and the Apprentice: Barack and Bobby

Tuesday night's prime time political event displayed the power of President Obama's delivery, where he takes the Democrats and where the Republicans need to go from here.

President Barack Obama addressed the Congress and America last night to recap the first meaningful legislative effort by this historic administration. In order to sell the merits of his plan, the president spoke to many sections of a suffering America, addressing the need for renewable energy, greater educational achievements, and the consistent flow of credit within our economic markets.

The president reminded both America and Congress that there will be sacrifices that all must make, including himself. He reminded America that there will be times in the future that we will disagree on the methods to use to improve our great land. He praised the courage of the military while calling out the lack of civic responsibility shown by high school dropouts, pointing out that those individuals let themselves and their countrymen down by giving up on their education.

Obama spoke with the power of an orator, the presence of a statesman, and the connectivity of America's professorial neighbor. If his four-year term can be equated to the World Series of Politics, Obama won game 1 in a Bob Gibson-like fashion, taking command early on his home turf and never relinquishing it.

Then there was Bobby Jindal.

The governor from Louisiana has been widely praised as a rising star within the Republican Party. As such, he received the monumental task of delivering the response to the president's first major address of his administration. He was asked to match the passion and delivery of a master speaker to balance the scale back towards Republicans, showing that the minority party still has the relevancy and creativity that America needs to turn the tide of this national crisis.If Obama spoke to Congress and the nation with the persona of a historic orator, Jindal gave the GOP response with the passion of a high school biology lecture video on Petri dish experiments.

Much of America has a hard time connecting with the Republican Party at this juncture because of the party's inability to build strong ties of trust and confidence between itself and the America electorate. In contrast to Obama's heart-felt, impassioned speech, Jindal's address came across as canned, typical, and sterile, using the phrase such as "...American can do anything..." to a point where any initial emotional zing from the sentiment was eventually lost in a sea of blandness and typical rhetoric.

Even Jindal's "mea culpa" on behalf of the Republican Party to rebuild trust was washed away within a matter of sentences once he continued his address by mischaracterizing President Obama's call for action where the president said steps must be quickly enacted or else "...we may not be able to reverse..." its effects.

Jindal had some good points, such as the need for more competitive and successful schools for American children, using the steps put into place in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina as an example. However, Jindal talked more from a philosophical point of view at a time when a large portion of America is too frightened for their current situations to engage in theory and speculate on their future.

Even though both men spoke to visionary paths that the country should take, each took different paths to get us there. Both men spoke to instilling confidence in this shaken country, but only one was successful in providing it. Both men spoke to renewing the world esteem and excellence of America, but only one provided the primetime colorful picture that Americans needed to see at a time where their confidence is compromised.

And both men are considered rock stars within their own respective political parties, but one showed how much contrast there is between masterfully articulating a vision and a message versus dryly talking to a philosophical view.

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Lenny McAllister is a Republican political commentator and guest co-host for Fox News - Charlotte's morning show "Fox News Rising," where his commentary can be seen every Monday. His website is lennymcallister.com