Tonight's State of the Union address was a highly anticipated one. The political culture of America has changed in favor of the President, with a bump in the polls he was off to a running start. The President knows how to grab and hold an audience, he delivers great speeches. However, the State of the Union is also seen as unimportant by most Americans. Most people don't remember a single phrase or idea from the State of the Union a month afterward. For many, the words of the President aren't enough and hold little comfort for those facing the problems of America. So how does the President think he can fix America? Will his strategies for fixing unemployment, the economy, the deficit, and the war in Afghanistan work for the every man in this country? Will the middle class eventually feel a weight being lifted?
Now onto what he did with this speech. Obama has made Washington feel good tonight. There were many who turned in to see if this tone would change they wanted to see the hint of Partisan backstabbing hiding under the calm demeanor of civility. He praised Republicans who have come together in a rare spirit of bipartisanship after the shooting in Tuscon. There were arguments about the seating arragnement which let's face it no one cares about, but it said something. One of the things I remember back to is that when the President was running for election we heard him say he would change the way Democrats and Republicans speak to eachother, it is know a national issue of how long the two parties will continue this easy discourse and positive tone. Most in politics don't think this will last long with the looming debates ahead. I don't think this will be permanent but for a little while Congressman need to think about coming out as negative or over the top. We still see over the top in the celebrity politics but the President has led a good campaign for everyone getting along and this speech continues that good will. In the coming months they will slug it out over the debt and social policies but for the moment everyone feels good in Washington. I also feel he should have picked a fight over something. I wish he had given Progressives and Liberals something to hear.
Maintaing the tone of civility is all he really did with this speech, I wish he had done a few things here, I wish he had used this moment to really launch a progressive legislative agenda that would launch his re-election; I wish he had talked about a real plan to restart jobs from the ground up; and he could have run with this and made a Bill Clinton combeback with a big guns bill. After the Tuscon shootings many called for the President to lead the charge against guns but this has been received with deaf ears it seems. Many were dismayed by the President's lack of broad-sweeping gun control legislation. I wish we had heard that.
While reading articles before the State of the Union many discussed his need to reach out to the middle class and those affected by the recession. President Obama gave sweeping imagery describing closed storefronts and factories but there was no mention of those laid of by those stores and factories. The decline of the middle class is one of the biggest and toughest facing this country. The Mortgage crisis which has been decimating Americans didn't get a mention this year, people are still struggling to keep their homes without help from the Obama administration.
The President's verbiage seemed different and aimed at the working joe of America, he seemed less like the sociology professor and more like a guy who has to support 2 kids in a difficult economic time. I love that Obama realized that he needed to speak to these people, but unfortunately I don't think he said what he should have to them. These key issues of mortgages, the decline in the middle class and gun control, and lack of strong legislation, not being mentioned tonight will impact the Presidency.
The President did well, he fulfilled his Constitutional duty to deliver the State of the Union to the American people, however it seems there are parts he forgot to mention, the state of the union on these big issues is not clear, the state of Obama's Presdiency in the face of Republican opposition in Congress is not clear. In the Republican response we heard about cutting spending and everyone seems to agree that we need to save social security, both parties jumped on that bandwagon. He did his job and he did it well, he delivered a great speech which uplifted us, inspired us, invoked images of the great American Past and the "Future we can win". He gave us hope and brought us a little bit of change, we hope he can make a difference but I don't feel the confidence I wish I held in him. He disappointed me here, he should have said more to his base, to the middle class and he should have led this country. I don't think hope and inspiration and a civil tone are enough to solve the problems of this country,
No comments:
Post a Comment