Obama's Short on Details, Long on Optimism

"It forces the nation into a deeper debt load, and it'll constrain the ability to take on additional projects," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist with Banyon Partners. "They're taking on more debt to get us out of the hole. That's counter-intuitive to logical thinking. Yet, this is what everybody wants. This is the only way we're going to get out of this situation now. We're not prepared to handle a harsher reality."

The take on Wall Street to Obama's speech was muted, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite showing few signs of being impacted by his comments.

"There hasn't been much of a reaction by the market because we don't know a lot of the details," says Richard Sparks, senior equity analyst with Schaeffer's Investment Research. "It's going to take time to flesh out the details, and there are a lot of moving parts. It makes no sense for him to get down to details as Congress could decide to do different things. He's given them broad ideas on what's important. He can work with Congress to compromise on the details."

Despite the lack of specifics, market observers argue that it's imperative that investors remain optimistic. "As an investor, it's better than nothing," Pavlik says. "It's going to be higher debt loads, but the economy should eventually recover to a point where we can reduce those debt loads. Better times will come, but we have to contend with the problems at hand. You have to do something. It's a step in the right direction."