increases helped balance the budget. but the other one, and this is actually a bigger deal, is that we had a fast-growing economy. the years of bill clinton were one of the best economies we ve had on record in the 20th century. in fact, if you just generally look at when we have had fast growing economies in american politics, it has been when we ve had fairly high marginal tax rates. the lyndon johnson economy, the kennedy economy. we ve had tax rates as high as 70, 80, 90% and had much faster growth than under george w. bush when it went down to 35%, the tax rate. that doesn t mean the tax rates lead to that fast growth. what it does mean is they don t derail it and they tend to help with the broad effort of balancing the budget. which, of course, helps to some degree to getting the economy back on track. one more point on what he said. steve schmidt made the point that republicans have not been able to find somebody on their side that is able to construct a speech like this. a 45-m
and power point. i thought it was a remarkable speech in the sense of he continues to hold that remarkable capacity he held as president to explain. you can agree or disagree and a lot of folks like to say he went on too long, but remember that 1995 state of the union where everybody in the press thought, actually still going on it is still going on. but he talked for an hour and a half or whatever and the political class hated it and america loved it. i would always laugh in those early state of the union addresses in 95 and 96 he went on so long, i would watch from the back, go in the cloak room, sleep 30 minutes, i would come back out and he was still going. and it it stunned me that his approval ratings would always shoot up. let s talk about what it means moving forward, mark and jon, because the reviews last night across the board are pretty stunning. certainly people on our network
descended from heaven and made this speech. he came up from hell. as a survivor of an internal party hell that he was part of and caused some of. what he did, then he talked about cooperation and how president obama believes in cooperation. he even appointed his enemies, lincolnesque. and then he methodically took down everything from pell grants to medicaid to medicare to voter i.d., something on my heart. after he called for cooperation. let me tell what you they stand for. not bad guys want to work with them. the bushes helped me all over the world but what they re doing is wrong. it was methodical. the only thing the president has to do tomorrow night is come on and inspire. the case has been laid out, signed, sealed and delivered. elvis and bubba showed up tonight. what he said about medicaid. when he stopped and said, they want to cut medicaid by a third. and remember two-thirds of medicaid spending is going to seniors in nursing home and middle class kids on disability. we don
on it is not a speech. it is a performance. everything that he s ever done distilled into the moment. i always have the sense that he has about ten great lines prepared. locked and loaded. and as the situation presents itself were to be appropriate, he pops one out and blows the roof off like he did tonight. when i thought he said how much he deeply believed it in obama. he didn t just make the intellectual case like lawyers do. the client is guilty but the lawyer gives a good case. he said i believe in this client. i believe in this president. inl in other words, i haven t always told the truth in the past but i mean it now. i mean it now. i mean it. has anyone brought up no president could have come back in three and a half years? that line he gave? no. that was true. because he said they left us in such a deep hole. it was so deep. he is one of the only guys out there who can speak to this knowing what it takes. he had the job. so when he says, he talks about cooperation
obama out to greet him for that big thing. that will be in all the papers tomorrow. that double shot. the big hug. two alpha males out there. two heavyweights. minute is the natural. we said it in the 90s and this is true now. you ve been doing this a long time. can you think of an expresidential speech that was this good or had this much potential for impact? i can t. this guy is even better than he was and he gave all the obama people a tutorial in how to talk about themselves. how to talk about what they ve done. and he has this unique talent. not just to be a great speaker but to combine policy and passion.