The President's speech tonight had a tone that was as insistent and impassioned as any I've ever seen from President Obama. Heck it was more impassioned then anything I've seen from a President in my lifetime. If the inaugural address and the election night victory speech had a dignified and austere feel, tonight was a no-holds barred address that laid out in no uncertain terms the President's agenda and above all, his vision for the country. Indeed, his vision for America and his agenda are one and the same.

"We are not quitters. These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity. Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us."

Beyond the passion of the above paragraph came some serious economic populism. On one of the pundit-fests after the speech someone compared the President to Huey Long! While clearly that's a bit of a stretch, this was a speech that was populist as tone as any I can think of since the days of the Great Depression. The rhetoric against Wall Street was biting and even when Obama was defending support for the nation's banks and automakers he made clear that he was doing it not for the bankers, but for the ordinary Americans who would benefit.

"I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can't pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can't get a mortgage."

We've become inured to 40 years of conservative populist attacks on "big government." But tonight we heard some old fashioned economic populism from the President.

But, even beyond that, a candidate who started off his campaign for President sounding like the unifier-in-chief, has truly become the voice and defender of the American middle class. Every policy option was cast in terms of how it would help working class Americans; and there was a healthy balancing of empathy for their plight with calls for greater sacrifice.

Unlike our last President, Barack Obama actually does enjoy an enormous amount of political capital. He has the broad support of the American people and a Democratic Congress to implement his agenda. It's fairly clear, after tonight, that he intends to spend it.