President Obama celebrates the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Let us admit, after a week of campaign mode, this weekly address sounded much like a campaign speech. However, it contained some practical and innovative elements that stand out of the usual political dribble. There is a new website, recovery.gov, being setup so that citizens can follow how the billions of dollars of the stimulus plan are being spent. This, I believe, constitutes what Obama called "doing things differently". In my view, besides the obvious media impact such a website can create, it enables people to get directly involved in democracy and and gives citizens the feeling of being in control. Not as if they could do anything if they disagree with the way their tax money is spent, but at least they will have an opportunity to find out about it. This is a huge step forward.