Obama's Milwaukee Labor Day Speech Was On Point

I was just a face in the crowd up in the Uecker seats at the back of the Marcus Ampitheater for Barack Obama's Labor Day speech Monday evening.

Three things impressed me:

1. It was on time. A 6:00 p.m. scheduled address began at 6:05 p.m. That's a sign of a campaign that is organized.

2. It was concise. It was not Obama's stump speech, given the Labor Day theme, and the subdued environment because of the unfolding hurricane in the Gulf.

3. It was coherent. Obama spoke about the value of unions as a shared enterprise, in which people unite. No surprise there: this was organized labor's big annual celebration, and Obama worked after his law school graduation on behalf of laid-off steel workers on Chicago's south side.

But then he expanded his remarks to the need for national unity in the face of the hurricane, then broaded that to the value of mutual assistance in a society where the country can lend a helping hand when people are suffering their own, private storms.

Unions. Unity. The United States.

In fifteen minutes, delivered without notes.

Good message all around.