Like a spouse who's partner continues to cheat, the country and most Democrats can only hope  for the moment that, unlike all the other times, this time he means what he says. History says he doesn't. History says he wont do any of the things he talked about in this speech. History says he wont even try.

Its one thing to try and fail. But since Obama has become President his hallmark has been to renege on promises, say two opposite things simultaneously, or make process more important than policy which is interesting because he told Diane Sawyer his biggest problem had been the opposite -- making policy more important than process. Which is really worrisome because if the president of the United States doesn't have a clue himself about what he's been doing, it doesn't bode well for the future.

Just as an example to prove the point, Obama began the entire health care debate by making bipartisanship a goal. That's process not policy. And there was no reason for it. I pointed out myself back in August that making bipartisanship a goal was a big mistake and useless, that it had nothing to do with policy or passing the kind of healthcare reform that was needed..  And for the most part with Republican obstructionism being their goal, Obama's focus on process ironically made the entire process a hundred times harder than it had to be. So by focusing more on process than policy he screwed up the process AND the policy. And he doesn't seem to know, nor, it seems, does anyone else around him know, that's exactly what he did. Its virtually impossible to believe that someone that dense or blind to what he's been doing, and having people around him just as dense, can possibly solve problems. And so far they haven't. And so far there is no reason to think they will.

For the most part, gauging from the reactions to the speech, the instant polling that was done and those Clockwork Orange type dials they hook up to people to gauge their reactions to different parts of the speech, there seems to be some unity in the country except among Republicans who always seem to be out of step with everyone else. But except for Republicans the country seems  fairly unified. Its Obama and his adminsitration that seems to be in a state of dis-union and disarray, not the country.

All the polls and data has shown the country is, at the moment, fairly unified in their focus and goals. At the the moment they are most concerned about jobs and the economy. But while that is here and now, its also a transient issue. It will get better eventually even if nothing was done. But they also show overwhelmingly that they want healthcare reform and just as overwhelmingly want a public option, a government run program as an alternative to private insurancce. Obama has not been able to deliver on either. That will have more far reaching affects and for a longer time. The economy itself will recover. Some people without healthcare wont.

Democrats and independents for the most part reacted positively to similar things. Occasionally, Democrats stayed positive ( wanting to believe what they were hearing no doubt) while independents  seemed skeptical. Republicans were always negative. With them it almost seems genetic.