Two observations regarding Obama’s address before the House Democrats’ retreat in Williamsburg last night:

1) Obama’s strenuous support for the economic stimulus bill removes any remaining doubt that he owns the bill, its pork, and its effect on the economy. If the bill passes and the economy turns around, he gets the credit–and the pork/expansion of government will forgotten by the media (even if the bill has nothing to do with the turnaround).

But here’s the problem for the president: That economic turnaround better be fairly robust; it can’t simply be a soft landing or slight rebound.

Why? Because he’s being handed $1 trillion dollars. When someone pays $500 for a used ‘79 Chevy, he’s not going to be terribly disappointed if it only tops out at 85 MPH. But when someone shells out $ 350,000 for what he’s been told is a mint condition Ferrari Testarossa, and it tops out at just 85 MPH–and is knocking and pinging to boot–the salesman better run for cover.

The American people are being sold the biggest government program in history. They better get their money’s worth.

2) The speech was unhelpfully partisan. Sure, it was at a Democrat gathering, but it was being broadcast throughout the country. And much of the country is concluding that the bill is a sham.

Obama was in a protective media cocoon during the two years of the presidential campaign. Clearly he’s gotten used to it. The media cocoon is still there, but what the president apparently hasn’t realized is that the cocoon is much more effective when you’re just making vaporous campaign statements that don’t have an impact on people’s lives. But once you’re in office and actually charged with governing, what you say affects people’s lives. They notice.