Last year, the day after the State of the
Union, I posted a blog entitled State of the Union: Designated Survivor – (http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com/2015/01/21/state-of-the-union-designated-survivor/). The story highlighted a practice that grew
out of the Cold War, in which the Administration leaves one official back at
the White House, in the event that some catastrophe takes out the President,
his Administration, much of Congress, and several members of the Supreme
Court. Just for the record, this year’s
Designated Survivor is Jeh Johnson, Department of Homeland Security Secretary. For more specifics on the practice, click the
link above to review the post.
Now, moving to SOTU 2016, at 9:05 p.m. last
night, Paul D. Irving, Sergeant at Arms of the United States
House of Representatives, announced President Obama’s
arrival to those assembled in the House Chamber for the President’s 8th
and final State of the Union (SOTU) Address.
House Speaker Paul Ryan then formally introduced him to those in the
Chamber. Against that backdrop, replete
with pomp, circumstance, and a packed Chamber, the 44th President of
the United States went to work. For the
next 60 minutes or so, as much as any President in these hyper-partisan times
could, the President owned the room.
By the accounts of even a number of
Republicans, he gave a great speech.
Most Democrats on record appeared to characterize it as his best. I’ve seen all eight, and while I am loathe to
attempt to cite chapter and verse from past addresses, I agree, he rose to the
occasion in an outstanding, if cerebral, and occasionally spirited way.
Mr. Obama framed his focus not on just next
year, but on the next five years, or 10 years.
As he ultimately put, his remarks focused on our future. In that regard, he promised not to immerse
himself in traditional listing of proposals, but on thematic directions to
achieve the very best outcomes for Americans.
In talking about our collective future, the
President posed four overarching questions.
They were:
First,
how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?
Second,
how do we make technology work for us, and not against us – especially when it
comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change?
Third,
how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?
Finally, how can we make our politics reflect what’s best in us,
and not what’s worst?
President
Obama replied serially to the questions, but before he began addressing the
issue of fully integrating American participation in a fully functioning
economy, he offered his own fact check on the matter. He noted that the US has the world’s
strongest and most durable economy. We
are in the midst of the longest streak of private sector job creation in
history, totaling more than 14 million new jobs. Most recently, we have experienced the
strongest two years of job growth since the 90’s; an unemployment rate cut in
half, an auto industry that just had its best year ever, and the creation of
over 900,000 new manufacturing jobs over the past six years. With relish, he injected that we’ve done all
this while cutting our deficits by nearly three-quarters.
In a direct
jab at consistently harsh GOP rhetoric, the President noted that those who
assert that our economy is in decline are peddling fiction. Mr. Obama, in further distilling the state of
the economy, clarified that the economy has been changing in profound ways. This shift began long before the Great
Recession hit, and it persists. By this
he meant technology can and often does replace any job, not just those on the
assembly line. Moreover, companies in a
global economy can locate anywhere, and face tougher competition. Thusly, workers have less leverage to
negotiate a raise, companies have less loyalty to communities, and fewer
individuals in the upper echelon secure and control an inordinately greater
share of wealth and income.
The President
posited that real opportunity requires every American to get the education and
training they need to land a good-paying job.
He lauded No Child Left Behind, and zeroed in on the need to provide
Pre-K for all in he future. Hands-on
computer science and math classes will aid making students job-ready on day
one, while we must also recruit and support great teachers. In making an observation that caused several of
those assembled to blush, the President spoke n support of providing necessary
benefits and protections, adding, “After all, it’s not much of a stretch to say
that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in
the same place, with a health and retirement package, for 30 years, are sitting
in this chamber. For everyone else, especially folks in their forties and
fifties, saving for retirement or bouncing back from job loss has gotten a lot
tougher.”
We know that
in this new changing economy, at some point in our careers, we may have to
retool. But that should not mean losing
what we’ve worked hard to build. To that
end Social Security and Medicare are more important than ever; we shouldn’t
weaken them, we should strengthen them. And
for Americans short of retirement, basic benefits should be just as mobile as
everything else is today. That’s what the Affordable Care Act is all about.
It’s about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when we lose a job,
or go back to school, or start that new business, we’ll still have coverage.
Nearly eighteen million have gained coverage so far. Health care inflation has
slowed. And our businesses have created jobs every single month since it became
law.
The President
pledged his belief in a thriving private sector, noting it’s the lifeblood of
our economy. While conceding there are
outdated regulations that need to be changed, and red tape that need to be cut,
he also observed that working families have not been the beneficiaries of years
of record corporate profits. Those
families do not get bigger paychecks by letting big banks or big oil or hedge
funds make their own rules at everyone else’s’ expense; or by allowing attacks
on collective bargaining to go unanswered.
The President
argued that “Food Stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis;
recklessness on Wall Street did. Immigrants aren’t the reason wages haven’t
gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put
quarterly earnings over long-term returns. It’s sure not the average family watching
tonight that avoids paying taxes through offshore accounts.”
The second
question was, “How do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest
challenges?”
Mr. Obama
referenced the Vice President, saying, “Last year, Vice President Biden said
that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with
this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the
strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade. Tonight, I’m announcing a new
national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us,
on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of
Mission Control. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still
save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.”
He mentioned
the science resistant strain of Americans that still dispute climate change,
citing their apparent loneliness. He
advised that folks on that island are “debating our military, most of America’s
business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire
scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it’s a problem
and intend to solve it.” He would end
that element of the conversation by challenging American businesses to produce
and sell the energy of the future.
This brings us
to question 3, “How do we keep America safe and strong without either isolating
ourselves or trying to nation-build everywhere there’s a problem?”
He began with a robust repudiation of the
baseline notion that “our
enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker,” a notion he characterized
as political hot air,” just as he did the idea of our economic decline. He went on to frame it thusly:
“The United
States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even
close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our
troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation
dares to attack us or our allies because they know that’s the path to ruin.
Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to
this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people
of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead – they call us.
As someone
who begins every day with an intelligence briefing, I know this is a dangerous
time. But that’s not because of diminished American strength or some looming
superpower. In today’s world, we’re threatened less by evil empires and more by
failing states. The Middle East is going through a transformation that will
play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia.
Economic headwinds blow from a Chinese economy in transition. Even as their
economy contracts, Russia is pouring resources to prop up Ukraine and Syria –
states they see slipping away from their orbit. And the international system we
built after World War II is now struggling to keep pace with this new reality.
It’s up to
us to help remake that system. And that means we have to set priorities.”
At the top
of the list of priorities he placed protecting the American people and going
after terrorist networks. He recognized
that both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people. They use the Internet to poison the minds of
individuals inside our country and they undermine our allies.
However, we
are addressing the problem directly. The
U.S. leads a coalition of over 60 countries to cut off ISIL’s financing,
disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out this
vicious ideology. As a result of over
10,000 air strikes we are eliminating their leadership, their oil, their
training camps, and their weapons. We
are also training, arming, and supporting forces who are reclaiming territory
in Iraq and Syria.
Finally, on
this score, he challenged Congress. “If
this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to
our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military
force against ISIL.”
Question 4, was
“How can we make our
politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?”
President
Obama reminded all that our Constitution begins with three simple words, “We
the People.” He injected that this means
all the people. He declared that the
future we want, which includes opportunity and security for our families, a
rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids – all
are attainable, but only if all of us engage.
And we will only achieve it if we fix our politics.
Mr. Obama
clarified by adding, a better politics does mean we must agree on
everything. However, democracy does require basic bonds of trust
between its citizens. It breaks down
when the average person feels their voice doesn’t matter; that the system is
rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest.
Too many Americans
feel that way right now.
After laying
down the challenge, he added, “This cannot be my task – or any President’s –
alone. It will only happen when the
American people demand it. It will depend on you. That’s what’s meant by a
government of, by, and for the people.”
Mr. Obama
admitted that what he’s
asking for is hard. It’s easier to be cynical.
But if we give up now, then we forsake a
better future.”
In closing,
the President put the onus squarely on the American people. He said:
“So, my fellow
Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party,
our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as
a citizen.
At 10:11
p.m., the President, in bidding adieu to the assembly announced firmly,
“That’s why
I stand here confident that the State of our Union is strong.
Thank you, God
bless you, and God bless the United States of America.”
At 10:19 p.m.,
Speaker Paul Ryan adjourned the House until 9 a.m. this morning.
I’m done; holla back!
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