watch it: the 7/4/09 weekly address from President Barack Obama

Obama did not say the work is finished. We are still in the middle of the process of pulling back from the brink of economic collapse. I'm glad to see this administration approach the recovery as a long, slow process, requiring patience and careful attention to detail.

The previous administration already tried the path of oversimplifying everything, removing necessary regulations and blindly following ideology over practicality.

Trying a more pragmatic approach for awhile looks wiser to me, even if it clearly frustrates the purists of both the left and the right.

Too bad they can't show the same patience and careful attention to detail when it comes to health care reform and environmental policies.

Pollas, thanks for confirming exactly what I've said. You are frustrated because the Obama administration's approach to these issues does not arise from your own ideology. Thus you make clearly inaccurate statements about Obama's policies, without even seeming to realize your claims are not true. Obviously false statements appear true to you, because your ideology skews your perceptions.

People with ideology opposed to yours are also frustrated with Obama's approach to health care reform and environmental protection, because it does not accord with the radical and sudden policy shifts they would prefer. Their perceptions are also skewed by their ideology.

To me this is a clear sign that the reforms actually being implemented are patient, pragmatic, and moderate. Observing these overreactions in others is one way to correct for my own flawed perception.

Overreaction? Overreaction?

Obama is demanding that health care reform be passed NOW. Yet no concrete plan has been presented. And yet Obama and his lapdog Pelosi are demanding that it be done by August. If this reform is so important, shouldn't we take the time to study the problem and study the possible solutions before we pass them? Obama has the wrong-headed idea that bad legislation is better than none. Rushing the process to satisfy some subjective deadline is more likely to make the situation worse.

And don't get me started on that cap and trade BS. It's hundreds of pages long and the House has to hire a speed reader to get through the thing? Not to mention the fact that THE morning of the day the bill was voted on 300 additional pages were added to the bill. Don't try and tell me that the House members were able to read all those extra pages that day. In fact, one Republican representative asked to look at a copy and was told that they did not have any copies available.

Patient, pragmatic, and moderate? Sell your snake oil to somone who'll swallow it.

Thanks again, Pollas. Your overly emotional tone only proves yours is not the voice of reason you believe it to be.

Obama recognizes the need for haste in starting to address these issues that have been neglected for far too long. Prior administrations have too often used "debate" as an excuse for inaction. His willingness to take action where they failed to do so does not prove anything about the specific nature of the actions he is taking.

As with the economic recovery package, the proof will be in the long, patient work of implementing these policies, not in the haste required to make sure a policy gets enacted at all. Very soon, all useful work in Congress will grind to a halt. Both political parties will soon grow increasingly distracted by campaigning for the midterm elections.

And just as with the economic recovery program, the matching fury of the knee-jerk extremists at both ends of the political spectrum is strong evidence that a pragmatic and moderate approach is being taken by the Obama administration.