Closing argument: Obama changes tone
By JONATHAN MARTIN | 2/6/09 4:28 AM EST Text Size:


Photo: AP


With his economic stimulus bill facing a rockier path than he’d hope, a different Barack Obama emerged Thursday.

Gone was the conciliatory rhetoric and gentle wooing of the GOP.

Instead appeared a president sounding like the candidate he was a few months ago, passionately and unmistakably chastising Republicans and reminding Americans of the policies they so soundly rejected on Election Day.

In a fired-up, mostly impromptu speech to House Democrats in Williamsburg, Va., Thursday night, Obama accused his Republican critics of wanting to return to “the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin.â€