A calm, measured President sets a direction on health care but not taxes.
Washington DC, Mar. 1 (WSJ).─ Donald Trump’s challenge Tuesday night was to look like he was up to the Presidency after a rocky start and set a clear direction for Congress. He succeeded more on the former than the latter, and the test now will be whether he can corral a fractious Congress to deliver in particular on tax reform and health care.
As a presidential rookie, Mr. Trump showed he could deliver a speech on this kind of stage in a calm and measured way. We haven’t seen enough of that in his first five weeks, and in that sense on Tuesday he rose to the occasion in democracy’s center ring. He was less tendentious than in his inaugural, and he began and ended with notes of unity and inclusiveness that have been too few in his early days.
Mr. Trump’s tone was also less combative than in his press conferences or TV appearances, and he didn’t sound like he was delivering a moral lecture as President Obama so often did. His blunt, plain language has been part of his political appeal, and for the most part he also avoided the defensiveness and self-focus that are unbecoming in the world’s most powerful political leader.
Even better was a tone of relative optimism. We say relative because his previous major speeches, including the inaugural, have included a parade of American horribles. On Tuesday he offered more than a few downbeats, including an overwrought picture of crime and a country besieged by foreign scoundrels. But he also pointed to better days and noted that Americans have always overcome their troubles.
The speech was less helpful in laying down clear markers for Congress on his signature reforms. The biggest miss was on taxes ...
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