Today’s speech at Knox College, Illinois, was supposed to be the president’s come-back moment, the first of a series of addresses aimed at retaking the initiative by the White House. Instead it was a train-wreck.

◼ Barack Obama flops in Knox: the president’s speech was a train-wreck - Nile Gardiner/The Telegraph

...In an hour-long address, which seemed to last forever (and par for course started 15 minutes late), the president spoke in deeply partisan terms, often with bitterness and anger, lambasting his political opponents, dismissing criticism of his policies, and launching into his favourite theme of class warfare, attacking the wealthy and what he calls the “winner takes all economy.” In a display of extraordinary arrogance (even by his standards), he condemned what he called “an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals,” a direct reference to the Congressional investigations into the IRS and Benghazi scandals, which most Americans don’t see as phony. He also defended his increasingly unpopular Obamacare proposals, attacking what he calls “a politically-motivated misinformation campaign,” while failing to acknowledge that moderate Democrats are “steadily turning against Obamacare” as The Washington Post reported today.

This was a highly defensive speech, with President Obama in full campaign mode. There were no fresh ideas, just a tired rehash of earlier campaign rhetoric. It was also another love letter to big government, with a clarion call for yet more federal spending on environmental measures, infrastructure, manufacturing, and a laundry list of liberal pet causes. There was not a word about reducing the burden of government regulation, and getting bureaucracy off the backs of entrepreneurs. His speech promised more government spending at a time when America’s national debt is approaching a staggering $17 trillion. He rejected tax cuts, and bashed the rich, at times sounding more like Francois Hollande than the leader of the free world.

Once again, Barack Obama demonstrated why he has built an unenviable reputation as a perpetual campaigner in chief, with an overwhelmingly partisan agenda....

◼ Lights, camera, economy: Obama uses rhetoric of class warfare in jobs speech - Dave Boyer/Washington Times

Before Mr. Obama took the stage, House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said the president’s address would be empty of content, calling it “an Easter egg with no candy in it.”

◼ The Inequality President - Wall Street Journal/Editorial

President Obama made his fourth or fifth, or maybe it´s the seventh or eighth, pivot to the economy on Wednesday, and a revealing speech it was. We counted four mentions of "growth" but "inequality" got five. This goes a long way to explaining why Mr. Obama is still bemoaning the state of the economy five years into his Presidency.

◼ Obama´s Embarrassing Speech - Rush Limbaugh

He just said, for example, "endless posturing and phony scandals will not help."

...RUSH: Oh, jeez. Folks, I can't react to this without... there's something pathologically wrong here. In the first place, "Washington has taken its eye off the ball, and I'm here to say this needs to stop." Now, I mentioned, I told you I heard that bite, I heard him say it live. He is Washington! This is the Limbaugh Theorem. He's articulating it himself. It's coming out of his own mouth. He's out there in Illinois claiming Washington hasn't been paying enough attention to the economy. They've been looking at the IRS. They've been looking at Benghazi. They have been looking into Obamacare, and they haven't been working on the economy, and (imitation) "I'm here in Illinois to make sure that they refocus in Washington," as though he has had nothing to do with it.

This is it. This is how he does it, folks, with the low-information voters. This is how he maintains his lack of attachment to his own policies.