Just for a moment - I want to put aside the politics and the economics of President Obama's speech - and talk about what I think is the most important take-away message from Thursday night.

And that is - for the first time in more than 30 years - we have a President standing up to fight against Ronald Reagan's "Raw Deal" and pushing for a return to the "New Deal" in America.

There used to be a time in this country - when the deal between us and our government was pretty straightforward - and that was - if you worked hard and kept your nose clean you could achieve the American Dream - you'd get the car, the home, the vacation - all the trappings of a comfortable American middle class lifestyle.

The President spoke to this deal - this compact - right off the bat....

These men and women grew up with faith in an America where hard work and responsibility paid off... where if you stepped up, did your job, and were loyal to your company, that loyalty would be rewarded with a decent salary and good benefits; maybe a raise once in a while. If you did the right thing, you could make it. Anybody could make it in America.

But that deal - that fundamental compact - contract - between Americans and our government has been broken thanks to Ronald Reagan - and the billionaires who were threatened by an expanding middle-class.

Billionaires who feared that as more people joined the middle class - they'd see their enormous stockpiles of wealth become to be more - merely multimillionaire-ish.

And in his speech - President Obama acknowledged this change - and the challenge that confronts us now....

For decades now, Americans have watched that compact erode. They have seen the decks too often stacked against them. And they know that Washington has not always put their interests first...

The question is whether we can restore some of the fairness and security that has defined this nation since our beginning.

So, the question is...are we going to let Reagan's Raw Deal kick more and more people out of the middle-class - and create a new America with just two classes - the billionaires and the oligarchs on the one hand and the vast working poor on the other? Or are we going to bring back the middle class?

A middle class doesn't just spring up out of nowhere - it has to be nurtured. It actually requires government policies to create. It requires a government that people have faith in - a government that adopts fair policies that promote a middle class -- taxation policies - labor policies - trade policies.

But Reagan's Raw Deal destroyed faith in government - it turned our tax policy upside down to give some of the most profitable people and richest people and most profitable corporations in the world tax breaks.

Reagan went after PATCO - the professional air traffic controllers union - and triggered a class war against working people and unions that have led to working people's wages flat-lining over the last 30 years - while CEO wages have skyrocketed.

So this is the choice confronting us - a choice between a strong middle-class - or a strong billionaire class - because - as President Obama said - we can't afford both....

I know that some of you have sworn oaths to never raise any taxes on anyone for as long as you live. Now is not the time to carve out an exception and raise middle-class taxes, which is why you should pass this bill right away...

We have to ask ourselves, "What's the best way to grow the economy and create jobs?"

Should we keep tax loopholes for oil companies? Or should we use that money to give small business owners a tax credit when they hire new workers? Because we can't afford to do both...

This isn't political grandstanding. This isn't class warfare. This is simple math. This is simple math. These are real choices. These are real choices that we've got to make. And I'm pretty sure I know what most Americans would choose. It's not even close. And it's time for us to do what's right for our future.

And that means ditching Reagan's Raw Deal.

It also means ditching the "me" society - a crucial tenet of Reagan's Raw Deal - and replacing it with a New Deal-style "we" society.

As the President said - one man didn't build the United States of America...

No single individual built America on their own. We built it together. We have been, and always will be, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; a nation with responsibilities to ourselves and with responsibilities to one another.

But stopping the Raw Deal in it's tracks won't be easy.

And the President acknowledged that.

We are in a crisis right now - and right-wingers like Eric Cantor and the billionaires who fund the Tea Party want to exploit this crisis to finish off the New Deal for good - just cut the head off of our government altogether - and let the oligarchs run the show.

But President Obama drew a line in the sand - saying that's not going to happen on his watch...

But what we can't do -- what I will not do -- is let this economic crisis be used as an excuse to wipe out the basic protections that Americans have counted on for decades... I reject the idea that we have to strip away collective bargaining rights to compete in a global economy. We shouldn't be in a race to the bottom, where we try to offer the cheapest labor and the worst pollution standards. America should be in a race to the top. And I believe we can win that race.

In fact, this larger notion that the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everybody's money, and let everyone write their own rules, and tell everyone they're on their own -- that's not who we are. That's not the story of America.

But it is the story of Reagan's America - it's the story of Raw Deal America - a deal that the President told us all he's committed to fighting against.

This jobs speech wasn't just about jobs - it could very well be a turning point in our modern history.

And while it will take a while to correct this massive ship of state that's lost its way - this could be the beginning - the first turn of the wheel away from Reagan's Raw Deal - and back toward the New Deal and a rebirth of the middle class of America.

The spending numbers may not have been as high - and the tone not as combative - as most Progressives may have liked - myself included - but it's a radical shift in posture.

While Reagan, Bush, Bush - and even Clinton - all said things like "The era of big government is over," Obama came right out and said that we're a nation of barn builders, not just lone-wolf Daniel Boone's.

And if more and more people get the President's message about the dangers of Reagan's Raw Deal - and if the president's message gains traction - then he'll be able to go bolder - and fight harder the next time - and then even bolder the time after that - until finally our nation once and for all tears down the myth known as Reagan's Raw Deal - and embraces what made our country great during the last century - the New Deal.

So let's let this speech be the beginning of the end of the Raw Deal.

If the President keeps fighting - and enough of us show up and take over the Democratic Party - then we'll win - and Reagan's Raw Deal will just be another one of those mistakes that our nation made - but eventually overcame to become a more perfect union.

That's The Big Picture.