What do you want to hear about tonight? It’s a weird situation with the administration resigned to the fact that they won’t achieve anything legislatively this year. Here are some excerpts from the speech:
“Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we’re in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded. “
…
“….The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.”
…
“As long as I’m President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.
No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits. Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.”
…
“Let’s never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that does the same. It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.”
Bringing Congress together in order to chastise them for gridlock and obstruction is a risky gambit. Risky, that is, unless Congress has a 10% approval rating.
Well, not until December, at least.
At which point, all hell breaks loose, and a panicked minority of Republicans will have no choice but to vote with Democrats to raise taxes on the wealthiest few percent rather than allow Dems unfettered ability to rewrite the federal tax code and military budget for the next 25 years by themselves two months later when the new congress is inaugurated.
Personally, when the Democrats retake the House, I would just tell Boehner and Cantor to go suck it and go huge on the reconciliation package in 2013 in the most gloriously partisan way possible, but I’m sure there will be some AMT or Medicare bullshit or whatever that makes dealmaking a preferred outcome. It’s more than the Republicans will deserve, that’s for sure.
Counting chickens much?
You’re right, Republicans, having set themselves up to march under the banner of one Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney, are sure to do just so darn well in November.
Obama could fuck a goat on live television while ululating like a jihadi, and he would still win 55% of the nationwide vote.
The Tea Party caucus is so, so screwed in the House.
I guess the answer is, “Yes, all chickens counted”.
Those who continue to discount the intensity with which fortune smiles on the President, do so at their peril.
When he wins, he wins HUGE. Historically huge. And he doesn’t lose much, either.
Has 2011 taught you nothing?
Yes, the landscape TODAY looks favorable for the President. And, yes, he might win HUGE.
And yes, 2011 has taught me something. As have 2009 and 2010. And what it taught me is that any presumption that it is “in the bag” over 9 months before the election discounts how rapidly and without rational explanation things can change in the political world.
I certainly hope you’re right. But I think your confidence level, particularly at this point in the process, is a bit too optimistic.
Yep. I am feeling more confident, but it won’t be over till it is over. And that means we have to work for it, hard.
I think the election will be closer than you think, just because of the massive amounts of media confusion (otherwise known as lying).
Please Mr. President. Look Congress square in the eye and do this …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHRERLEM2eE
Gabby Giffords just entered the chamber and got a standing O. God, what a brave and admirable public figure she is.
And Sam Alito is a no-show. Whodathunk it?
He knows he can’t keep his mouth shut when the uppity black man is speaking.
I don’t think it’s fair to project racist motives onto Alito because he was wrong on Citizens United. The two aren’t related.
It wasn’t that he was wrong on Citizens’ United. It was how he reacted at the State of the Union last year when Obama criticized the CU decision.
Yeah, but I still don’t think his outburst was racially motivated. I think he was just being a jerk.
Actually I agree with you. He was just being a jerk.
Wow. Obama is Occupying Congress right now.
I personally hated it, thought it was way worse than his 2011 SOTU. Disappointed. Iunno, I feel like he didn’t even write much of it…nothing like his address in Kansas, either.
Not a single mention of the public option, too.
Sorry, Machina, unlike most leftists, I don’t go on and on about the PO because I really didn’t expect one.
But on the note of health care, it’s interesting he didn’t mention his signature accomplishment even once.
He did mention it right after his bad joke about spilled milk:
“I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny you coverage, or charge women differently from men.”
But that’s it as far as he went to defend/tout one of his signature accomplishments (an a pretty incredible one despite its flaws)
Also this:
That line was a stick in the eye to those still insisting that it’s a government takeover of healthcare.
With a few minor differences, I think he crushed it out of the park and stomped the GOP traitors flat as a pancake.
LOL to see mean jean schmidt pushing her way in close to get Obama to sign her copy of program.
You will hear these themes again–and again–and again.
Thank God, the slogan is no longer “winning the future”.
High marks for putting the GOP on notice about DoD cuts; apparently he has some (reluctant) buy-in from the JCS for $500 billion in cuts (remember that only the budget from October 2012 to January 2013 (really February-April 2013) really counts.
High marks for the investigative task force–as long as Schneidermann and not Lanny Breuer or the SEC is driving the investigation.
And high marks for a lot of Republican heartburn as he co-opted their talking points.
I think he hit the center “sweet spot” in American politics. Whether that translates into an electoral college victory remains to be seen.