9:09 PM … tiptiptip: Hey, is this thing on?
9:10 PM … I think Brian Williams just said Rahm Emanuel is a veteran of the IDF. I’m pretty sure that’s not true. He did some sort of civilian volunteer thing during the Gulf War. (ed.note: — he just corrected at 10:17 PM)
9:11 PM … Huh, what happened to that Bush guy?
9:16 PM … Hey, maybe it wasn’t Roberts’ fault!
9:18 PM … Here’s the text of the speech itself.
9:19 PM … It just occurred to me that the tempo and dynamics of a congressional address are very, very different from those Obama is best known for. You never really get more than a few sentences to get warmed up before you need to stop for more applause.
9:22 PM … Reminds me: Why did Bush destroy the country?
9:30 PM … That was a very open-ended statement on the fate of the biggest banks and what may happen to them if they can’t manage on their own. The key points were about support and continuity of institutions that can provide a banking function.
Here’s the quote: “We will act with the full force of the federal government to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times. And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance sheets, and assure the continuity of a strong, viable institution that can serve our people and our economy.”
9:40 PM … Simon Johnson has more on that passage on the banks in the speech.
9:56 PM … Speech seems a bit more disjointed in these last minutes.
9:56 PM … This point about honest budget accounting sounds very wonky. And it is in a lot of ways. But the Obama people are very big on it. It’s actually amazing how much stuff was not included in the Bush era budgeting. Cost of Iraq and Afghanistan for the next 6 or 7 years? Hard to say. So just don’t count it, etc.
