“Now is not the time for small plans,”  intoned Barak Obama.  But what a small-ball speech he delivered!   Recruit an army of teachers.  Community service in exchange for college.  Equal pay for equal work.  The next generation of biofuels.  AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. No red or blue America on the battlefield. Stop insurance companies from
discriminating. Fathers must take more responsibility.   Etc.

Has there been a single political speech given in America in the last decade that hasn’t exhausted these old chestnuts?  There was no edgy, Clintonian triangulation.  No Democratic Leadership Council snipes at outdated liberalism.  Not even enough guts to name a program he will cut when he “goes through the budget line by line.”  Where on Earth was the change?

“The challenges we face require tough choices,”  he said so solemnly about two-thirds through.

Really? What tough choices is he willing to make?