The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Obama’s State of the Union Preview

Posted on | January 24, 2011 | 5 Comments

Because I signed up for the Obama mailing list in 2008, this was actually e-mailed to me Saturday night but — I’m not kidding — it went to my “spam” folder:

From the presidential e-mail:

Two years ago, when I first addressed a joint session of Congress, this country faced a crisis unlike anything since the Great Depression — an economy that had spiraled out of control, putting millions out of work.
Today, we’re in a different place. An economy that was shrinking is now growing again. But across the country, millions are struggling every day — to find work, to pay their bills, to provide for their families.
It is clear that the moment we now face demands a vision for how we as a people will win the future.
And that vision — that agenda — will be the topic of my State of the Union address.
As the messengers, volunteers, and organizers of this movement, you will play a critical role in carrying out that agenda. Because of that, I want you to have an advance look at what I’ll ask of Congress on Tuesday. . . .
I will talk to the nation about how we can win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the rest of the world. By dealing with our deficits and our debt in a responsible way, and reforming government so that it’s leaner and smarter for the 21st century. How we continue to keep America safe and advance our interests around the world.
But we can do it only if we all work together.

George Will has dismissed the State of the Union as a “pep rally.” Meanwhiile, the president’s predictable call for “investments” — nudge, nudge — got an equally predictable Republican response:

With Mr. Obama planning to call for “investments” of tax dollars in specific areas like education, infrastructure and technology, Republicans insisted that “investment” was just another name for spending that the nation can ill afford.
“With all due respect to our Democratic friends, any time they want to spend, they call it investment, so I think you will hear the president talk about investing a lot Tuesday night,” Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “This is not a time to be looking at pumping up government spending in very many areas.”
Mr. McConnell’s House counterpart, Representative Eric Cantor, said that his party would demand “deep spending cuts” in all areas and that the military, an area of the budget that Republicans ordinarily view as sacrosanct, would not be exempt. “Every dollar should be on the table,” Mr. Cantor said in an appearance on “Meet the Press” on NBC.

It’s kind of hard to get excited about such a predictable political show.

Category: Barack Obama

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