One Speech Down, One to Go

 President Barack Obama gave his much-ballyhooed speech to American students Tuesday afternoon, clearing the deck of the more minor of the two speeches he will give in two days.  Tonight, he will give the one that should have drawn more attention than his pro-education speech of Tuesday afternoon when he addresses Congress over health-care reform.

Obama’s speech to America’s youth was met with a “so what?” reaction by much of the nation, and with a dialed-down and recalcitrant Republican reaction adding credence to White House allegations that the Republicans overplayed their hand.  The biggest loser in the fiasco seems to be Florida Republican Party head Jim Greer, who is now trying to take credit for the content of the speech, alleging it would have been more partisan in content had he not created a major fuss over it in the days leading up to the speech.   Unfortunately for Greer, the nature of his comments lend themselves more to transparency and an attempt to save face than they do a credible claim.

The speech that Greer should have been focusing on is Wednesday night’s address to a joint-session of Congress by Obama on health-care reform.  The speech, a rarity of its nature, is seen as a make-or-break sales attempt on health-care reform by the President as he tries to salvage it on behalf of his party.  Republicans have gained much traction on the issue over the summer, making it a bit surprising that Greer would be silent over this speech after raising such a ruckus over the education address.  But then again, it would require raising legitimate objections rather than false ones, perhaps leaving Greer out of the fray for that reason.