Every time that President Obama is in political trouble, he gives a big speech that is big on words and short on substance. In the media, this is known as “The most important speech yet.” The only problem is that he always ends up giving another “most important speech” because they never seem to work. While President Obama is undoubtedly a skilled orator, his speech writers always cheat him on substance. The pattern isn’t a very good one for him politically. This sort of saving himself with a speech may serve him in the short run; but long term we always know there will be the next “most important speech” soon. The American people would much rather see leadership, while the Congress would rather have direction than an idea.

Last night was no different. Although he did say all the right things in order to keep his fractious caucus together, he did little in showing leadership. It was a culmination of almost all his major speeches rolled into one big lecture to the Congress. It was ideas and rehashing the past, rather than providing direction.

The  President passed the Economic Stimulus Act in hopes of stimulating the economy and creating jobs last year. It was one of the signature pieces of legislation that he passed. Remember the “speech of his life” to get it passed?  That’s how he started this year’s State Of The Union. He said that “Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that is why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight. People are out of work. They are hurting. They need our help. And I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay.”  This isn’t the first time he said that.  He continues to say that it is “as popular as a root canal”.

What does he say about the wars we are fighting that will include close to one hundred thousand of our troops? Nothing new. Who remembers the Afghanistan speech a couple months ago? It seemed like it was such a hard and complex decision. It took almost a year to decide what to do, until the President announced the troop increase. Last night was more of the same speech when he announced the troop increase. Last night he said,  “we are increasing our troops and training Afghan Security Forces so they can begin to take the lead in July of 2011, and our troops can begin to come home.” This is yet another example of using words to get through short-term political term but is very short on new ideas and direction.

Healthcare is the one issue that is driving the Presidents poll numbers into the ground. He spent the past nine months on this. Some say he spent most of his political capital on this issue. They got a big wake-up call last week in Massachusetts with the loss of Sen. Kennedy’s seat. He acknowledged the fact that this hit him hard by jokingly saying, “by now it should be fairly obvious that I didn’t take on health care because it was good politics.” This also warranted its own “do or die” speech to a Joint Session of Congress. He implored last night, ”After nearly a century of trying – Democratic administrations, Republican administrations – we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many Americans. Do not walk away from reform. Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people.” He acknowledged the lack of direction he provided to the Congress and to the American people. He said “the longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became”, while at the same time refuting the charge that all he wants is a bill, as he stated, “to get some legislative victory under my belt.”  He went on to tout the reasons why the bill should be introduced into law; “The approach we’ve taken would protect every American from the worst practices of the insurance industry. It would give small businesses and uninsured Americans a chance to choose an affordable health care plan in a competitive market.” This statement was made with the attempt of showing the American people why it is benifical to pass healthcare reform. But that’s where he stopped. Nothing we didn’t know. No new ideas, no direction as to how to move forward on the bill. If he continues in this path of not leading and not showing direction, this will just create more confusion.

It’s time to stop making speeches to try to save the presidency. It’s high time to start passing legislation. The Dems have a majority in both houses of Congress. There is a limit to how much you can blame the GOP. There is no need for GOP votes; the responsibility lies at the doorstep of the leaders of the Senate and the House. Unless, of course, all they hear are speeches and no direction. Then it lies at the desk in the oval office to provide direction not speeches.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.

(David Lobl – YWN / Can be reached at [email protected])