President Obama’s Labor Day speech in Milwaukee is getting a lot of attention, partly for his claim that “powerful interests” in Washington “talk about me like a dog,” which I admit I can’t completely parse. Then there’s this (starting around 44:00):
These are the folks whose policies helped devastate our middle class. They drove our economy into a ditch. And we got in there and put on our boots and we pushed and we shoved. And we were sweating and these guys were standing, watching us and sipping on a Slurpee. (Laughter.) And they were pointing at us saying, how come you’re not pushing harder, how come you’re not pushing faster? And then when we finally got the car up — and it’s got a few dings and a few dents, it’s got some mud on it, we’re going to have to do some work on it — they point to everybody and say, look what these guys did to your car. (Laughter.) After we got it out of the ditch! And then they got the nerve to ask for the keys back! (Laughter and applause.) I don’t want to give them the keys back. They don’t know how to drive. (Applause.)
I mean, I want everything to think about it here. When you want to go forward in your car, what do you do?
AUDIENCE: D!
THE PRESIDENT: You put it in D. They’re going to pop it in reverse. They’d have those special interests riding shotgun, then they’d hit the gas and we’d be right back in the ditch. (Laughter.)
Sure, he’s delivered some of these lines before. And they’re sort of corny. But I like it anyway. It sounds very FDR-esque to me: a full-throated attack on the opposition party and on corporate interests, but delivered with wit and humor. More like this, please.
