Michele Bachmann's jobs speech rebuttal: 'Odd' or 'powerful'?

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

The video: Because of a travel delay, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann missed most of President Obama's "feisty" jobs speech Thursday night, in which he laid out a $447 billion plan to boost the economy. But the Minnesota congresswoman's late arrival didn't stop her from offering her promised rebuttal to his remarks. Rejecting Obama's plan, Bachmann proposed that we "massively cut" government and repeal "job killing regulations." (Watch a video below.) She accused Obama of offering no new ideas, and branded him "politically paralyzed." The rebuttal was staged despite Speaker John Boehner's decision to forgo an official Republican response to Obama's speech — and was widely seen as Bachmann's attempt to reclaim the spotlight after a mediocre performance at Wednesday's GOP presidential debate.

The reaction: If Bachmann "was hoping for a chance to reassert herself in the national political spotlight," says Josh Lederman at The Hill, "Thursday night wasn't it." The Tea Party favorite may have been trying to regain political momentum with her "wild rhetoric," says Mike Mullen at City Pages. But "no one cares": Just 15 or so journalists showed up, and most networks opted not to cover the "odd" speech. Bad call, argues Frances Martel at Mediaite. Bachmann's response was "rhetorically powerful," and demonstrated her campaign strategy: Forget independent swing voters and appeal to the passionate conservative base. Judge the speech for yourself: