It sounds, frankly, rote. Take a look at the word cloud of the speech, and your eyes glaze over.

But it was actually one of the more interesting and exciting speeches Bernanke has given of late. He essentially chastises Congress for its lack of seriousness about the debt. And he subtly stakes out a political position: No tax increases for two years, or until the economy really starts growing and adding jobs again, then real tax increases and spending cuts. He even suggests that Congress take up stronger self-regulating guidelines to achieve better fiscal balance. Such political advising is part of Bernanke’s job — he isn’t overstepping some bound — though in the past he has been softer about fiscal issues.

Obama officially named former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as his choice for secretary of health and human services and director of the new White House Office of Health Reform. Obama also announced that Jeanne Lambrew, who, like Daschle, works on health care issues at the Center for American Progress, will serve as deputy director of the new office.

Obama pledged to make health care reform a top priority of the new administration. From his prepared remarks:

The time has come – this year, in this new Administration – to modernize our health care system for the twenty-first century; to reduce costs for families and businesses; and to finally provide affordable, accessible health care for every American.

The president-elect rebuffed critics who would argue that the current economic crisis should trump health care reform as a national priority by linking the two issues.

Right now, small businesses across America are laying people off or shutting their doors for good because of rising health care costs. And some of the largest corporations in America – including major American car makers – are struggling to compete with foreign companies unburdened by these costs. Instead of investing in research and development, instead of expanding and creating new jobs, our companies are pouring more and more money into a health care system that is failing too many families.

So let’s be clear: if we want to overcome our economic challenges, we must also finally address our health care challenge.

Daschle, wearing a pair of bright red, round glasses — much to the amusement of some in the TWI office — singled out skyrocketing health care costs the number of uninsured Americans as two as two principle targets of reform and made the connection between the financial and health care crises even more directly.

Addressing our heath care challenges will not only mean healthier and longer lives for millions, it will also make American companies more competitive, address the cause of more than half of all of our personal bankruptcies and foreclosures, and help pull our economy out of its current tailspin.

Daschle vowed to bring Americans into the reform process and share their ideas by utilizing the transition’s Change.gov Website as a forum for hosting online discussions on health care policy, some of which Daschle would personally participate in.

With increased Democratic control of both houses of Congress, and Democratic Congressional leaders like Sen. Ted Kennedy eager to tackle the issue, the chances of success in addressing the health care reform seem much more likely than under the past administration.

A Chinese-American, Chu is a professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley and has been the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2004, where he has pushed aggressively for research into alternative energy as a way to combat global warming.

It is the oldest of the Energy Department’s national laboratories, but does only unclassified work and in recent years under Chu has been at the center of research into biofuels and solar technologies. Chu has been a strong advocate for the need to engage scientists in the search for ways to combat global warming by replacing fossil fuels with other energy sources such as biofuels and the sun.

If confirmed, Chu would be the second academic Obama has tapped from UC Berkeley, after Christina D. Romer, an economics professor picked to head Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.

The choice would further confirm that Obama is serious about revolutionizing the nation’s energy policy, and he is willing to look outside of Washington to tap the nation’s top experts in their respective fields.

The strategy is not without risks, as being a good scientist does not necessarily make one a good policymaker. However, Chu’s position as the director of a prominent research laboratory suggests he has experience managing a bureaucracy.

Perhaps most important, the move would close the door on yet another tragic hallmark of the Bush era — in the Obama administration, science will direct America’s energy policy, not vice versa.