1) I absolutely agree with Yglesias on this point:
— Obama’s pledge to refuse to sign a bill that increases the deficit by so much as “one dime” may be politically savvy, but it’s substantively insane. For one thing, there’s a margin of error around these medium-term budget projections. For another thing, it’s ten cents! That’s nothing worth vetoing anything over! Common sense!
Of course there's always wiggle room, and he's said this before, but when I heard it, I instantly envisioned a 2012 attack ad.
2) To repeat: I disagree with the president about the importance of the public option, especially now that he's embraced individual mandates. Mandates make the public option even more necessary than before. And regarding item #1 above, if the president wants to achieve revenue neutrality, the public option is a fantastic way to get there.
3) Speaking of which, yes, mandates are important. Canada has mandates, France has mandates, England has mandates. It's necessary for achieving universal coverage and reducing costs. However, like I said, a public insurance option must be inextricably attached to the concept.
4) I have a wild theory that the tort reform section had more to do with gathering conservadems than courting any Republicans. Very smart politics. For all of the bipartisan language in the speech, the president isn't an idiot. He knows as well as you and I do: the Republicans will not vote for healthcare reform. This was all about giving the DINOs something to ballyhoo to their voters (and contributors).
5) The Republicans didn't applaud when the president said that the economy has been pulled back from the brink. The Republicans support the brink?
6) Judging by the expression on the First Lady's face, did you get the impression that everything negative you were thinking about the Republicans, the First Lady was also thinking?
7) Can you imagine if John McCain were president right now?
8) I was actually surprised when the president said, "We are the only advanced democracy on Earth - the only wealthy nation - that allows such hardships for millions of its people." You will never hear this kind of honesty from a Republican like, say, George W. Bush who once famously said in a very positive way that having two fulltime jobs is uniquely American.
9) Though he won't get nearly enough credit for it, the president seriously stuck it to the Republicans -- to their faces -- last night on at least half a dozen occasions. And he totally nailed them on their Medicare hypocrisy with this: "So don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut - especially since some of the same folks who are spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past, and just this year supported a budget that would have essentially turned Medicare into a privatized voucher program." Though he stumbled on the word "privatized," which was unfortunate. But I don't recall President Bush being this repeatedly critical of Democrats in a joint session. Then again, there's a lot of revisionism about George W. Bush's style and success floating around these days, giving him more credit than he deserves. After all, he failed to privatize Social Security, he failed to get immigration reform a year later, he didn't get tort reform, his tax cuts weren't a large as he wanted, etc. Mostly he just exploited a shell-shocked Congress for a couple of years. It doesn't take a political hard-ass to do that.
10) This was another line that contained shocking language for a president, and if you blinked, you probably missed it. In the section about the public option: "But by avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits, excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers." The president actually, in a word, criticized health insurance profit-making. Or, at the very least, he used "profits" in a pejorative sense.