Mark Halperin’s take on the State of the Union speech was pretty typical of the Beltway pundit crew.
The president delivers a boffo performance…
…Obama’s presentation was close to flawless: upbeat and animated, leisurely and assured, surprisingly engaging even when he lapsed into the professorial mode he favors over tub-thumping…
…For the tens of millions of Americans who want Beltway residents to get along and get things done, it was the apex of bipartisan promise since the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
The bipartisan dating seating arrangements defused any sign of dissent, although the president provided precious little cause for anger. CNN (84%) and CBS (91%) found enormous levels of support for the president’s proposals.
I don’t agree that the president’s central message, ‘the future is ours to win,’ was ‘hackneyed. It was on point. Much like Amy Chua, Obama’s vision is ‘excellence,’ and he wants us to warm to the challenge.
So yes, the world has changed. The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn’t discourage us. It should challenge us…
We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit, and reform our government. That’s how our people will prosper. That’s how we’ll win the future. And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there.
The president knows that we’re becoming a nation more interested in gaming than in learning the hard sciences or pushing ourselves to be the best. We’re soft and, increasingly, we’re undereducated. We’re falling behind. And if we’re going to avoid watching India, China, Brazil and others become the preeminent nations in the world, we’re going to have to do something radical. Obama thinks that developing clean ‘new’ energy technologies is our path to excellence. And he went directly after ‘old’ energy.
We’re issuing a challenge. We’re telling America’s scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we’ll fund the Apollo Projects of our time…
…We need to get behind this innovation. And to help pay for it, I’m asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s.
This is what Obama termed our ‘Sputnik moment,’ referring to the first space satellite launched by the Soviets in 1957. Less than nine months later, Congress reacted by creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Eleven years after that, we were walking on the Moon. We are going to have to have similar investment and commonality of purpose to reach Obama’s high expectations.
Now, clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they’re selling. So tonight, I challenge you to join me in setting a new goal: by 2035, 80% of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources
That should be music to all Americans’ ears, but it is probably a terrifying vision in oil and coal country.
Obama is definitely more JFK than RFK, but that’s okay. Unlike JFK, Obama actually gets shit done. The Republicans can keep talking about the hallucinations they had over the last two years, but the president’s plan is more in keeping with the American Spirit. We need common purposes and we need big projects. And we need those things outside of the context of war. Let’s get to work, right?
Of course, a good or even great speech is nice. But then we come back down to Earth and realize that no matter how well received, the president’s proposals are not Mitch McConnell’s proposals. They are not John Boehner’s proposals. So, last night will be the last we hear of them unless something changes.
For those who wanted the president to provide some vision, now you got it. Not bad, eh? He understands the big picture.