Thoughts on Obama's Oval Office Address

I watched President Obama's first Oval Office address this evening.

I was underwhelmed.

It seemed to be as much of an address about cap and trade as it was about capping the oil spill in the Gulf.

Presidents are supposed to provide reassurance in troubled times. It's difficult to do that when it looks like you are reading your remarks as if you were reading a passage from Heart of Darkness aloud in a high school English class. It's also difficult to be reassuring if you're busy impersonating Jimmy Carter and lecturing Americans about our consumption of oil and other fossil fuels. A condescending lecture won't do anything to clean up the spill. If anything it just muddies already murky waters.

President Obama's remarks this evening simply did nothing to inspire my confidence.