2011 State of the Union.
There’s so much to say, so little time. A few thoughts.
Barack Obama absolutely killed it with this talk. If you didn’t feel inspired and hopeful at various points, check your pulse- you might be dead.
The speech was brilliant as a rhetorical device. But (more importantly) it was very powerful as a governing agenda. It seized the high ground- investing doesn’t mean spending for its own sake. Rather, it’s using the leverage of targeted investment to upgrade the long run capabilities of America’s human and productive capital.
Only one suggestion: “America does big things”- great. “America, get to the chopper, NOW!”- awesome.
That said, the proof is in the pudding, not the talking. And frankly, a lot of the results depend on the GOP. Will they, at the very least, get out of the way? They won’t. But now Obama has drawn the contrast between what we should be doing and what we are/aren’t doing. It was amazing. He shamed the GOP without ever explicitly calling them out. That’s some serious mental/rhetorical jujistu. He’s a bigger man than us here at TS. We would have gone 50 hot ones right from the podium.
Another stark contrast- Obama’s speech spoke to our loftiest national ambitions. The Ryan rebuttal…..did not. Granted, the minority response always pales in comparison to the grandeur of the President’s platform. But his speech seems like rather small-minded pean to the GOP whipping horse of ‘deficits bad. cuts good’. If the GOP does believe this, then why were they falling over themselves to extend the Bush tax cuts? Obama also made this point with style. Finally, I thought it was EXTREMELY telling that Paul Ryan, a ‘leading light’ of the new GOP dared not speak his own plan’s name (The Ryan Roadmap). Perhaps he (and the GOP) know that once Americans truly understand the nuts and bolts of their agenda/this plan- gutting Medicare, replacing it with vouchers that aren’t inflation indexed, and a bevy of draconian cuts to non-military spending- they would refudiate their party with great vengeance and furious anger.
And what analysis would be complete without a nod to the Tea Party rebuttal by Rep Bachmann. Wow. Suffice it to say that if Obama spoke to our national ambitions, and Ryan made a less inspiring, partisan response, then Bachmann/Tea Party represented a childish, petulant scream (“No! I want candy!”/”Repeal, Socialism!, Founding Fathers!”) that didn’t even begin to address the issues facing our nation.
//exhales
That’s it for now. Probably other commentary to follow today. Politico’s take below. Click link for today’s full Playbook.
2. Mike Allen/Politico Playbook:
President Obama’s State of the Union showed ruthless political agility. He’s done a full Clinton makeover, much faster: Aides to former President Clinton recall that they were still scratching their heads in the spring after the shellacking of ‘94. Look at Obama’s five pillars: innovate, educate, build, reform, responsibility. Those last two are straight out of the handbook of the DLC, the Clinton-era temple of centrism. Roger Simon said on our webcast that the speech was “safe … mushy.” But the other end of that telescope is PRAGMATIC.
The speech was couched in rhetoric designed to sound civil, unifying, uplifting. But it was laced with meaty proposals that, according to presidential advisers, are designed to SMOKE OUT the GOP - to force Republicans to reveal plans of their own, and help the West Wing chart where the axis of cooperation may lie. Obama threw down the gauntlet on several monster issues that are likely to be furiously fought, and have lobbyists licking their chops
