Did President Obama Waste His Oval Office Address?

Insert memorable quote here.  Seriously, I just finished watching President Obama give his first televised speech from the Oval Office, and with all the hype comparing the speech to JFK’s “ask not what you can do for your country” speech and FDR’s famous inaugural address (“We have nothing to fear but fear itself”), I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed.  Don’t get me wrong, President Obama is a great speaker, and while the jury’s still out on a public opinion reaction to it, I have a feeling it will have an effect on public perception of the recovery effort.

Though it was a great speech, and doing it in the Oval Office certainly added the sense of urgency, but to me this speech felt more like a normal Presidential speech, as in nothing truly special.  The Oval Office address is supposed to be the game-changer, the speech that incites the nation to action.  For instance, George W. Bush spoke from the Oval Office right after 9/11; though other Presidents have each addressed different issues from the Oval Office, this is the best example of the kind of speech the occasion is meant for.  Coming out of the speech with no memorable quotes to throw up here makes me wonder if this speech would have been better if it had been made from the Gulf coast.  Then again, successful speeches are not determined solely by their memorable quotes, but also by their policy implications.