Was shrill and defensive and unrepentantly liberal inasmuch as he pushed harder on health care and jobs and the rest.
But that was a strong rhetorical close. Perhaps he has learned belatedly that apologizing for America doesn’t fly. I wonder, too, if being commander in chief has affected him. How could it not? It may not translate into the right policies, but I think there is a little bit of a different Barack Obama because of that role he plays. At least rhetorically. There’s at least a little American exceptionalism salt on this speech.