For Obama, they remain largely faceless

Wall Street Journal - Feb. 24, 2009 - By WILLIAM MCGURN
In Obama We Trust

In ordinary times, the triumphalism with which Barack Obama surrounds himself -- the faux presidential seals, the classical Greek temple built for him to receive the Democratic nomination, the self-allusions to Lincoln -- might be of little public consequence. These are not ordinary times. In an interview last Thursday, Bill Clinton gently chided President Obama for not talking up the economy. Perhaps that's because the president has been busier talking up himself. From the stimulus and the mortgage bailout to yesterday's "fiscal responsibility" summit, it's now clear that when Mr. Obama told America "we are the ones we've been waiting for," he wasn't kidding.
Tonight we'll get another measure of the president's ideas about the way forward, when he travels to Capitol Hill to deliver a prime-time address to Congress. Most of this address will focus on the economy. And one good gauge of its prospects for success will be how he treats a group of Americans who have been largely absent from the president's most important economic statements and speeches: our entrepreneurs and small business owners. (continues...)