Unlike 2008, the current presidential election has a sitting incumbent. This has made direct attacks between the Republican candidates and the President difficult and most times impossible. However, if there was ever a rebuttal to the accusations made against his presidency during the Republican debates, this State of the Union speech was it.
The President did something that is one of his campaign strong points. He highlighted accusations made about his policies and shot them down systematically. Whether it was his "apologizing for America" or his "envy" of millionaires shaping his tax policy, he made strong logical arguments for why things need to change and not "go back” to the way they were. More importantly he did it in a positive way that attacked the issues rather than candidates.
Highlights of Speech
The President did a lot of good things in his speech. First he highlighted outsourcing and growing manufacturing. These are important middle class issues as they are the most publicized causes of unemployment. The president then made an important policy goal on job training. If the unemployment rate is going to be effectively reduced it means finding ways to get people finding good permanent jobs now. Making job retooling accessible for the average American is vital. He then focuses on energy promoting serious commitment to clean energy. The most important was tax policy. This has been the center of political debate for the past year and dovetailed perfectly with discussion of the issue in the Republican debates.
The president also had some misses. If he hit it out the park personally it would seem suspicious. The spilt milk joke will likely makes the media circuit through the coming days. Also the president seemed to be triangulating with an all of the above strategy on energy supporting offshore oil and gas. The truth is that at the moment the technology to make these safe and profitable doesn't yet exist so it was a bit of a reach.
Taxes
The center of the speech was definitely tax policy. With events like the Occupy Wall Street protests and Mitt Romney's issues with his tax returns. Tax policy and its effect on income inequality is an issue that will be a key issue on the campaign trail and here the president made a good case for taxing high income brackets. He did this using the idea of "fairness" highlighting that people of all income levels need to pay the same percentage of their income. He also promoted ending tax credits for companies that outsource and giving them to companies that make jobs in the US. As important as the policy specifics will be how he couched them. He made it not a class warfare issue but an issue of distributing benefits to where they are most needed. A tax cut has a bigger impact on the economics of a middle class household than a millionaire’s.
The real test of the State of the Union is how the president uses the remainder of his first term to put key aspects into action. If he is seen as making progress there is a good chance that he will build the goodwill he needs to win reelection. At the same time he needs a willing audience in the voting electorate.
Tega Jessa - I am a freelance writer who focuses on sciences, politics, and sci fi television and have written on them for three years.
