Obama's speech

It seems to have been accepted with some pretty calm praise. It starts slow, but builds up. Apologies for the ad at the beginning, but this is the cleanest version we've found.

Our take? The delivery is oddly, almost artificially flat. The format doesn't lend itself to grandstanding. The mike keeps popping. We think it's underdone. We think it should have been in front of a cheering audience. The fact that it wasn't is obviously deliberate. Whether that deliberate choice is genius or a terrible mistake remains to be seen.