Obama: Repub Economy is "UnAmerican"

TPM put up this clip from a speech Obama gave in Grand Rapids.

"It's time we had a president who understands what it's like to stand alongside people who have lost their jobs, and walked the picket line with them. Who understands what it's like to listen to a grown man choke up because he hasn't just lost his job, he's lost his pension, he's lost his healthcare, and he's trying to figure out how he's gonna go home that day and explain to his wife and his kids that they're in trouble and he might not be able to take care of them the way he wants.

There's something wrong about that. There's something un-American about that."

TPM Commenter SkyModem said:

One wonders if this long, long campaign has brought out something in O that was perhaps submerged until now.

He speaks to the American heart as one would to someone who, through some terrible experience, has forgotten who they were - reminding them in the most unsentimental of terms that once they were free, unencumbered with sorrow, unscarred by betrayal, unbowed by fear.

It's as if he holds up a mirror that somehow reflects who we once were, and tells us - convincingly - that we could be ourselves again.

Let us come home to ourselves, and forever leave behind that fearful dream in which we once lived.

TheraP said:

When I shook his hand in Feb, all I could say was "Thank you." With tears in my eyes. And I truly believe he understood everything I meant by those words. He looked me straight in the eye. I read understanding. I read strength. I read hope. And I think he understood how long and how desperately this white haired lady has been waiting for someone... to understand and stand tall and ask us all to work together to renew our nation.

If you're not crying, shame on you.

Read the full text of Obama's prepared remarks here.