Obama Rolls Up His Sleeves

Earlier today I wondered if Obama would level with the American people on the tough economy ahead, and what his specific plan for dealing with it was. I have to honestly say that I'm very impressed with his speech today which did a marvelous job of covering both. First, the specifics of the Obama plan:

Obama's specific proposals include:

-- A temporary $3,000 tax credit to companies for each new job created in the United States over the next two years.

-- Penalty free withdrawals from 401(k) and IRA retirement accounts up to a maximum of $10,000 this year and next.

-- A 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners who are living in their homes and making good-faith efforts to make their mortgage payments to banks that receive assistance under the $700 billion federal bailout plan.

-- Calling on the Federal Reserve and Treasury to set up a facility to lend to state and municipal governments, similar to the steps the Fed recently took to provide liquidity to the commercial paper market.

The plan also calls for temporarily eliminating taxes on unemployment insurance benefits and having the Fed and Treasury prepare for guaranteeing a broader range of liabilities of the banking system.

Early reaction has been very positive. Josh Marshall at TPM has the recap:

As many observers have noted, Obama faces a choice: Whether to strike optimistic tones about our future that might play well politically, or to address our future more realistically and hence make it easier to govern. Today Obama tacked towards the realistic, and used that to pivot on to another attack on Bush.

"George Bush has dug a deep hole for us. he said, in an ad-libbed line not in the prepared remarks. "It's gonna take a while for us to dig our way out."

In a particularly ambitious moment, Obama also promised to try for nothing less than a paradigm shift in the way we view our relationship to the economy, calling for "promoting a new ethic of responsibility" and for a serious bid to break our "cycle of debt."

"It's a serious challenge," he also said. "But we can do it if we act now, and if we act as one nation."

All in all, it was a very significant speech, and a very credible bid to close the deal with voters.

Change we really can believe in, folks.