President Obama ‘s first State of the Union was a mixture of contradictions, exaggerations and pointed fingers. His attempt to bring revive the spirit he generated during his campaign fell flat and at times his speech seemed contrived, lacking the usual intellectual rhetoric that we’ve become so used to.
It was obvious that the goal of this State of the Union was to reassure cynical voters and independents that Obama can do his job, that is, if the Republicans would stop being so obstructive. While he often spoke of bipartisanship, ironically Obama did not hold back his attacks on the Republicans. This speech was possibly the boldest we have seen the President, as he challenged the Republicans when he said, “just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.”
Blaming the Republicans for lack of success during the past year seems like a cop-out. If Obama fails, it will be his fault, not the fault of the GOP. The Democrats have the majority in the House and the Senate. Lack of support from his own party to pass the healthcare reform bill is what is holding it back. Perhaps instead of blaming Republicans for being obstructionists he should revisit why members of his own party refuse to support the bill. Or why the majority of constituents are fervently against it.
There were many points that Obama made throughout the speech that were overstated and inaccurate. He claimed that the stimulus plan saved 2 million jobs, failing to note that this is just a projected number pulled from reports put together by his own advisors. In addition to the exaggerated numbers, the jobs he mentioned were mostly government jobs, (cops, firefighters, clean energy) a contradiction of his earlier statement that “the true engine of job creation in this country will always be America’s businesses.”
During one surprising moment, Obama criticized the Supreme Court ruling on campaign advertising, causing Alito to shake his head and mouth, “That is not true.” Obama claimed the Supreme Court ruling would allow foreign corporations to spend without limit in elections. While this could be a possibility in the future, it is dependent on future rulings, not the one which the Supreme Court just passed. The calling out of the Supreme Court was desperate and inappropriate. Given that the justices are to remain impartial, Obama essentially taunted them.
He spoke briefly of healthcare reform, encouraged Congress to push forward but failed to communicate a plan for doing so, placing the blame on the Senate for falling to push it through. This statement incited criticism, even from Democrats. Sen. Landrieu said, “Moderate Senate Democrats, who give the Senate the 60 votes, come from states that have to appreciate a broad range of ideas and since the president ran on a bipartisan, change, working with Republicans, [he] doesn’t do a great service to then say everything the House passes without any Republican votes is something the Senate should just take.”
Obama did finally call to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” but didn’t say much beyond what he had previously promised in his campaign. At best, gay rights activists can put the pressure on and hope that Obama gets around to dealing with the issue this year.
Overall, a major problem with the speech was Obama’s failure to take responsibility. Yes, he apologized for the lack of trust constituents have in the government, but quickly turned it around to blame lobbyists and Republicans. He attempted to separate himself from Washington by aligning himself with the American people, using words like, “we” and “them” and called out politicians for being in permanent campaign” mode. A laughable statement, considering this week he brought his own campaign manager to the White House.
It is doubtful that the American people will feel satisfied with Obama’s half truths and poor follow-throughs. He was voted into office based on his promise of change, and while he was right when he said “I never suggested change would be easy,” he has to accept that until he starts showing real leadership, he will face harsh criticisms from disappointed voters.
You might want to check these out, too:
Tags: democrats · republicans · State of the union1 Comment
Unless we were listening to two different speeches, I’m pretty sure I also heard the President say that he’s going to start to meet with House Republicans every month. I guess that’s not bipartisanship. Or the fact that he wants to establish a national debt commission, a piece of legislation that, even though it failed this week, garnered bipartisan support in the Senate. (Just to name a few.)
At least he didn’t mention the number of cloture votes that the Republicans keep invoking in the current session. That’s not obstructionist at all…