State Of The Union Address Sounded Like Obama 2012 Campaign Kickoff
President Obama, with Vice President Biden and House Speaker Boehner behind him (AP)
In what felt like a formal kick off to his 2012 re-election campaign last night, President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address highlighted his successes over the past three years, announced several reforms he hopes will address economic disparity in America, and tried to take his critics to task.
Obama led off with foreign policy, saying “For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.”
Obama's speech borrowed plenty of rhetoric regarding economic disparity swirling in the national conversation. Among his reforms, Obama plans to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and attorney generals to investigate what led to the housing crisis and a Financial Crimes Unit to “crack down on large scale fraud and protect people’s investments.” He went on to say “a return to the American values of fair play and shared responsibility will help protect our people and our economy. But it should also guide us as we look to pay down our debt and invest in our future,” demanding the passage of the payroll tax cut and asked for other tax reform. “You can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”
The President made a few attempts to reach across the aisle to Republicans. To a standing ovation neither side could begrudge, Obama said “I’m a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more.” He acknowledged that Americans want a “smarter, more effective government” but reminded Republicans that some have supported bankrolling clean energy projects and federally financed roads.
Obama’s speech was strong, trumpeted some successes and shows he plans on swinging hard during election 2012. Still, the State of the Union was laden with contradictions. While the President can trumpet bringing the troops home from Iraq, there are still thousands of American contractors fighting there. Opening 75 percent of offshore oil to drilling isn’t exactly the cleanest energy policy, even if the President says he won’t “back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago.” He can say he supports teachers, but he also called out their unions, hinting that schools should have a much easier time replacing teachers.
Obama’s overall message seemed to be that though he’s inherited plenty of problems, he’s been trying to fix them, despite plenty of opposition. That, and it appears he’s pulled a potential new campaign slogan from an old Ford truck commercial: “built to last.”
