Tuesday's surprisingly moving State of the Union address came from a man who no longer has to run any campaigns "cause he won 'em all." Someone in my neighborhood of Boston even shot off fireworks. Obama looked liberated and victorious. I could remember the man that I voted for back in 2008. The pundits will rightfully consider his proposals progressive, bait for the liberal base to fight for his agenda, or at least enough to keep Elizabeth Warren from blocking another appointee. 
 
 But underneath it all was a phrase that we won't be talking about very much at all: "For those who put in the effort." The American people "aren't asking for a handout," he reassured us. They just need "a little help." In this neoliberal worldview, poverty is not a systematic illness but instead an individual failing. 
 
 Don't get me wrong, there were several moments during the speech when I was, as I have been for the past seven years, swept up by the power of Obama's rhetoric. But then, if I paid close enough attention, he would always subtly remind me of his centrism and his unwavering self-focus. "My only agenda for the next two years is the same as the one I've had since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol -- to do what I believe is best for America." And for a moment, in the brief space following such a self-assured declaration, I could understand the liberal arrogance that so infuriates conservatives about this president. 
 
 The speech was followed by a 10-minute monologue from Joni Ernst and her shellacked head of hair. Senator Ernst was as rosy-cheeked as a freshly-painted cadaver and reminded us of her own journey from poverty, something to do with bread bags and having only one pair of shoes. It reminded me of that poignant moment when Mariah Carey, while showing off her New York penthouse for MTV's Cribs, hunts around a massive shoe closet for her former "only pair of shoes." Of course, she can't find them. "Well, on to the Mermaid Room," she says, as the camera forgets. 
 
 So whether you're a political or an entertainment celebrity, you're obligated to show authenticity through past poverty. Why do we demand the earnest tale that Senator Ernst so stiffly told? Why does President Obama have to constantly refer to the "melting pot" of Hawaiian culture? 
 
 Because we, as Americans, like to believe in effort. Sell us a dream, sell us hope, sell us change, and we will follow you to the fiscal cliff. We don't like to believe what Senator Elizabeth Warren so often reminds us, "the system is rigged." We need our shining examples to give us hope and to stall policy changes with the myth of rugged individualism. 
 
 The system remains rigged because the president is the ultimate product of the system. Every speech is designed to reassure us that he's not one of those old-school tax-and-spend liberals. His policies rarely appeal to a higher authority, God or moral or otherwise, which leaves an opening for the opposition to challenge the system he continues to uphold. Tea Partiers can point to the past year just as easily as Obama can and say, look, we didn't do much at all. Congress was a dysfunctional disaster, and the country benefitted economically! Government functions best when it functions least. 
 
 So Obama, by always anticipating and conceding to the counterpoint that social programs are a handout to the poor, undercuts his own authority. He injects his desire to compromise and his own beliefs instead of appealing to human rights, or social justice, or even just sound economic policy. "Middle class economics works," he repeated over and over, as if trying to make the phrase catch on retroactively. So why hasn't he called it that since the beginning? Has he spent this whole time just trying to come up with a fresh rhetorical phrase? 
 
 I also worry that we will enthrone Obama as a great liberal president, who somehow changed the country's mind on gay marriage. It was a bit galling to hear him take credit for something that required him to "evolve" and then act as though he had been publicly hoping for the positive result all along. 
 
 Yes, you can argue convincingly that Obama's gradualism, his long-term strategic thinking, has delivered many progressive victories But you can just as easily say that his inability to govern in a manner in keeping with his rhetoric has left his followers disenchanted, which ultimately delivered Congress to the Republicans thanks to low voter turnout. 
 
 So as much as I enjoyed the tenor of the speech and the old feelings that he revived, I can't help but think it's too late for this Obama to show up now. 2015 isn't the second debate with Romney. Obama should have had the guts to stand up back during the midterms when it would have mattered to Democrats struggling to defend his record. 
 
 But I suppose it does feel good to sprint around the tracks, alone, when the race is already over. ||||| GOP nominee Mitt Romney began his final weekend campaign blitz in New Hampshire Saturday morning, ripping President Obama for telling supporters that "voting is the best revenge." 
 
 "Vote for revenge? Let me tell you: Vote for love of country," Romney said to cheers. 
 
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 Obama made the remark at a Friday rally after supporters booed Romney. “No, no, no. Don't boo. Vote,” Obama told a crowd in Springfield, Ohio. “Voting is the best revenge.” 
 
 The GOP nominee jumped on the comment later that day, and his campaign released an ad attacking the president for it Saturday morning. 
 
 The Obama campaign said Saturday that the president's comment was made in the context of Romney's “scare tactics.” 
 
 Spokeswoman Psaki said a Romney TV ad running in the state that suggests Chrysler was moving production of Jeep models to China was an attempt at “frightening workers in Ohio into thinking, falsely, that they’re not going to have a job.” 
 
 “And the message he was sending is if you don’t like the policies, if you don’t like the plan that Gov. Romney is putting forward, if you think that’s a bad deal for the middle class, then you can go to the voting booth and cast your ballot,” Psaki said. “It’s nothing more complicated than that.” 
 
 At rallies Saturday in Mentor, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Obama again used his "don't boo, vote" line, but he did repeat the revenge comment. 
 
 The president did, however, attack Romney on the Jeep ads during the Ohio appearance. 
 
 “Changing the facts when they’re inconvenient to your campaign, that’s definitely not change,” Obama said at the rally in Mentor, Ohio. “But that’s what Gov. Romney’s been doing these last few weeks right here in Ohio.” 
 
 Team Obama continued to get questions about the “revenge” remark on a conference call with reporters late Saturday afternoon. 
 
 Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt did not repeat Psaki’s explanation that Obama was referring to the Jeep ads. Instead he said Obama’s revenge comment was just replacing his common “don’t’ boo, vote” refrain. 
 
 “If you disagree that we should return to the same policies that crashed the economy and devastated the middle class in the first place, the place to make your voice heard is at the polls, and that’s exactly what the president addressed last night,” LaBolt said. 
 
 LaBolt also took a shot at the Romney campaign for focusing on the comment. 
 
 “It’s interesting that that’s the closing argument that the Romney campaign is making. I think that it seems very small,” LaBolt said. 
 
 While Romney and Obama are deadlocked in most national polls, the president has held the lead in most swing-state polls, including those in every state Romney is visiting this weekend. While Romney's momentum following the first presidential debate seemed to be dissipating by the end of the week, to some observers it seems that Hurricane Sandy further stalled it — and gave President Obama a boost. 
 
 “If you hadn’t had the storm, there would have been more of a chance for the Romney campaign to talk about the deficit, the debt, the economy. There was a stutter in the campaign. When you have attention drawn away to somewhere else, to something else, it is not to [Romney's] advantage,” top Republican strategist Karl Rove told The Washington Post Friday night. 
 
 The president visited Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters early Saturday before leaving for appearances in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Virginia. 
 
 After a briefing and conference call on Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts, Obama said that his team was putting “120 percent” into making sure communities have the resources they need, adding that “there's nothing more important than us getting this right.” 
 
 More from The Hill: 
 
 • Medicare fades as ‘majority-maker’ issue for House Dems 
 
 • Conflict-of-interest concerns raised as Obama races to implement health reform 
 
 • GOP senators want new Select Committee to investigate Benghazi attack 
 
 • Senate Scorecard: GOP dealt serious blow in battle for upper chamber 
 
 
 
 Romney also touched on bipartisanship during his New Hampshire appearance. After criticizing President Obama for last meeting with Republican leaders in Congress in July, Romney promised to do better. 
 
 "You know that if the president were to be reelected he would not be able to work with Congress, you know there would be more gridlock… the president just can't work with Congress, he's proven that time and time again," he said. "We can do it, I've done it before. We're going to work in Washington to help the people." 
 
 Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said Romney has never worked across the aisle. 
 
 "Despite his claims in the final days of this race, Romney refused to work with Democrats as governor. And throughout this campaign, he has shown himself to be too weak to stand up to the far-right wing of the Republican Party – whether it’s Grover Norquist, Richard Mourdock, or the architects of Republican obstruction in Congress," Smith said. 
 
 Romney went further in an afternoon Iowa appearance, warning that the partisan gridlock that's gripped Washington the last two years will lead to more fights over the debt ceiling if Obama is reelected. 
 
 "There'll be a shutdown of government or a default. Can you imagine four more years of that?" he said. 
 
 Romney will also be in Colorado later on Saturday. 
 
 Romney also delivered the Republicans' weekly radio address on Saturday, touting his business experience and promising to kick-start the economy with his five-point economic plan. 
 
 "The question of this election comes down to this: Do you want more of the same or do you want real change? President Obama promised change, but he could not deliver it. I promise change, and I have a record of achieving it," he said. We need a real turnaround if we are going to get our economy growing and get Americans working again. And I’ve led that kind of effort many times before." 
 
 --This report was originally published at 12:26 p.m. and last updated at 6:47 p.m.
– In a State of the Union speech short on big surprises, one of the more talked-about moments came during a presidential ad-lib. Late in the speech, Obama said, "I have no more campaigns to run." When some cheers broke out among Republicans, Obama said, "I know because I won both of them." He got a round of applause and carried on. Alan Rappeport, New York Times: "But in one off-script moment, he flashed his notoriously competitive side." Joshua Keating, Slate: "Obama responded with an ad-lib that will likely go down in State of the Union history." Chris Cillizza, Washington Post: "I have no more campaigns to run....I know because I won both of them." -- Obama. WHOA," he tweeted. Brian Stelter, CNN: "If you wanted the media coverage of this #SOTU to concentrate on policy, 'I know because I won both of them' is not what you wanted," he tweeted.