My cynical side came out today before an interview with Senator Evan Bayh.  I was told he wanted to answer our questions about what to expect from President Obama’s speech tonight.  I wondered whether the White House encouraged its political friends to do a little ice-breaking for the President, to get some of the message out in advance.  Bayh said it’s nothing of the sort.  He’s just fighting a cold and it would be easier to answer our questions now rather than later.

Bayh also said the President will have to balance the reality of our current challenges with the belief that we can be optimistic about our future.

What does the Senator say about the anger people feel when they see the government shoveling so much of our money out the door? 

“People have a right to be angry,” he said, “at these people who got the banks in trouble, folks who got overextended.”  But, Bayh said “we couldn’t afford to sit back and do nothing.”  He argued the country needs aggressive action now — to provide stability and “get the economy growing, once again.”  Then, he said — of the people “who got us into this mess” — we will hold them accountable “and make sure that it can never, ever happen again.”

Bayh also said the deficit is likely to be too big for anyone’s taste this year and next year.  But, if the administration is able to get long-run spending under control, he said Mr. Obama’s goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his term is “realistic.”