As an aside, it was extremely frustrating that our president is using disrespectful terms like "illegal immigrants" and defending policy that refuses to cover their routine healthcare costs. Overall, however, I was quite impressed with his speech. And I was quite shocked at quite a few Republicans' faces and disrespectful actions during the speech.
But the most historic piece of the speech was the last third of the speech, where Obama spoke eloquently and passionately about the character of the country and the role of government:
"Figuring out the appropriate size and role of government has always been a source of rigorous and, yes, sometimes angry debate. That's our history. For some of Ted Kennedy's critics, his brand of liberalism represented an affront to American liberty.
In their minds, his passion for universal health care was nothing more than a passion for big government. But those of us who knew Teddy and worked with him here, people of both parties, know that what drove him was something more.
Ted Kennedy's passion was born not of some rigid ideology but of his own experience. It was the experience of having two children stricken with cancer. He never forgot the sheer terror and helplessness that any parent feels when a child is badly sick.
And he was able to imagine what it must be like for those without insurance, what it would be like to have to say to a wife or a child or an aging parent, "There is something that could make you better but I just can't afford it."
That large-heartedness, that concern and regard for the plight of others is not a partisan feeling. It's not a Republican or Democratic feeling. It, too, is part of the American character. Our ability to stand in other people'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 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 acknowledgment that sometimes the government has to step in and to help deliver on that promise.
This has always been the history of our progress. In 1935, when over half of our seniors could not support themselves and millions had seen their savings wiped away, there were those who argued that social security would lead to socialism, but the men and women of Congress stood fast. And we are all the better for it.
In 1965, when some argued that Medicare represented a government takeover of health care, members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans did not back down. They joined together so all of us could enter our golden years with some basic peace of mind.
You see, our predecessors understood that government could not and should not solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains and security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom.
But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little. That without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopoly can stifle competition, the vulnerable can be exploited.
And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn. When any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American, when fact and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom that we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter, then at that point, we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves."
It was nothing less than refreshing and humbling for our President to call his country to action and to so well articulate the virtues of liberalism. He reminded us of the potential of our country, the character of our country.
Not surprisingly, President Obama's approval rating went up a few percentage points in just the days after his speech. A country is moved.
