During his address to Congress last night, President Barack Obama focused on the state of the economy, bringing a young and energetic voice to an otherwise grim situation. While he came off stern and concerned, the president offered uplifting statements as well, saying, "We will rebuild," and arguing the potential success of the $787 billion stimulus package, which has gone from a bill to a reality in recent weeks.

Any overarching presidential speech of this decade would be remiss if it didn't include a plan for Iraq, Afghanistan and our troops. Beyond the overwhelming youth involvement and enthusiasm, there are a few things that stuck out as major promises in President Obama's campaign, like the planned 16-month troop pullout from Iraq. Democrats and young people across the nation applauded Obama for his plan, which was in strict opposition to that of former President Bush and, of course, opponent John McCain.

So when Obama gave the time frame of 19 months last night in his speech, there were a few furrowed brows. While the campaign promised 16 months, apparently the Pentagon and military officials argued for 23 months — and so, through a "meeting of the minds," as Obama called it, they arrived at a compromise of 19 months. Compromise? In Washington? Fresh. And certainly a departure from the more ... didactic and unilateral decision-making of our 43rd president. I think we can forgive the three-month difference in place of the bigger promise kept, which was to bring compromise, and a president who listens to his entire Cabinet before making a fair and balanced decision.
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Have you always wanted to pen a presidential speech? Do you think the White House transition team lost your résumé?

If you're still angling for the job, we found a way for you to catch the eye of the president's team: Atom.com has a fun little feature called the "Inauguration Speech Generator."

"A grassroots Internet campaign helped Barack Obama get elected," the site says. "Now he's calling for the Internet's assistance one more time — to help him craft the best inauguration speech ever."

So, I decided to put the generator to the test, filled in the Mad Libs-like boxes with important-sounding words like "hope" and "patriots," and voilà! Here's what it would sound like if I got the chance to write Obama's history-making address:

"My fellow Americans, today is a prestigious day. You have shown the world that 'hope' is not just another word for 'country,' and that 'change' is not only something we can believe in again, but something we can actually honor. Read more...

"Sex and the City" star and real-life New Yorker Cynthia Nixon made her way to Florida for this Election Day. Florida Street Teamer Anthony Wojtkowiak caught up with the actress at the University of Miami today, where she was encouraging students to vote.

"I'm just talking to students here, making sure everyone is voting," she told MTV News. "If they haven't, I'm telling them the clock is ticking. Today is D-day. Gotta vote."

Nixon was also there to speak out against Florida's Proposition 2, which would define marriage as being between a man and a woman, effectively banning same-sex marriage. "It's an antigay initiative," said Nixon, who is in a lesbian relationship. Read more...

We've more than exhausted our allotment of boxing metaphors to describe the presidential campaign. But here goes one more: Whoever is in charge of picking the music played at Republican candidate Senator John McCain's rallies is either punch-drunk or down for the count.

You'd think after getting smacked down by the Foo Fighters, John Mellencamp, Heart and Jackson Browne (who actually filed suit against McCain for using "Running on Empty" in an ad broadcast in Ohio) that someone, anyone, in the McCain camp would vet song choices at least as thoroughly as they vetted vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin (OK, maybe that's a bad example).

But in the latest song snafu, the guitarist for '80s rockers Survivor has asked the McCain/Palin campaign to stop using their "Rocky III" anthem "Eye of the Tiger" at events, according to a post on the band's official Web site.
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John McCain failed to land the knockout blow he needed, and Barack Obama still pulled his punches a bit more than he should have. The debate's format stunk and prohibited the candidates from really talking to each other. One CNN pundit said he learned that McCain wanted to "buy everyone a house" and Obama wants to "give everyone free health care," commitments that are "remarkable for a country that's broke."

McCain made too many references to the past and weird jokes about hair transplants, while Obama pulled a Clinton-esque move and hung around shaking hands and talking to voters in the venue long after McCain had left.

Our old friend Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post lamented that "there was no game changer," saying each man stuck to their tried-and-true attacks, with McCain's condescending reference to Obama at one point as "that one" getting "HUGE" play in the immediate aftermath of the debate, what he termed an unlucky break for McCain on what was probably just an offhand comment. And, indeed, the talking heads on CNN repeatedly brought up the gaffe, saying it could come to define the evening and take its place alongside Bill Clinton's reference to "that woman" when discussing the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Read more...

You can fold up the dirigibles and wind down the local meet-ups. After announcing that he would throw his own convention during the GOP coronation in St. Paul, Minnesota, in September, maverick Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has officially thrown in the towel, again. The anti-Iraq war, small-government candidate with the rebel streak and rabid army of volunteers announced the decision on Thursday, but not before unveiling a second campaign that will divert the many gigawatts of youthful energy he collected during his pugnacious White House bid into a new effort.

"It is time now to take the energy this campaign has awakened and channel it into long-term efforts to take back our country," Paul told supporters.
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