The attack on President Obama's State of the Union Address has become a virtual political ritual. The attacks come before he even utters a word of it before Congress and the nation. His Sixth State address is almost no different. Almost, because this time the usual attack suspects are not the GOP alone. It's also a few Democrats. This go round a central theme of Obama's talk will be income inequality and its corrosive, and looming disastrous effects on American society. The facts are by now well known. Wages and income of middle class workers have stagnated, wealth is more concentrated at the top than ever, the number of poor are greater proportionately than in the past few decades, and the labor force participation has dropped to near record lows. A Pew Research Center/USA Today poll found that even a substantial majority of Republicans agree the wealth gap has become a problem.
Obama
has repeatedly demanded that Congress at least take some minimal action on the
problem to at least prevent the situation from getting worse He's pushed to
extend unemployment benefits, hike the minimum wage, and boost spending on job
creation programs. His pleas have fallen on tone deaf GOP ears. They have
already lambasted Obama again before the speech with the bogus and facile
charge that he's promoting class warfare and especially finger pointing
Obamacare as a prime example of a supposedly failed policy that hurts all
Americans. This subtly reinforces the ingrained notion of millions of Obama
opponents and critics that he is an unreconstructed leftist, tax and spend, big
government, anti-business, Democrat. This attack line is very predictable.
The liberal Democratic critics say just the opposite. That he needs to be even more frontal and much sharper in attacking the wealth gap and the greed of the corporate rich. They implore him to rethink international trade initiatives that he's backed that supposedly will add to the economic woes of workers and fatten the accounts of corporate industries.
The
GOP and the Democratic critics target a president's state of the union address
for a simple reason. It is always one of the most watched and listened to
political speeches. It's a president's report card on the accomplishments, the
present and future planned initiatives of his administration and his vision for
the country.
GOP and Democratic presidents are keenly aware that their Democratic and
Republican opponents know that State of the Union Addresses boost the stature,
prestige, and power of the presidency, and usually bumps up the president's
approval rating by a point or two. They also know that the opposition's
response to the speech is feeble, pale, and little watched or counted by
Americans.
The history of the State of the Union speech underscores the power to shape
policy and bolster the president's image. Obama will do the same by again
hammering on the need to take action on his signature issues of immigration
reform, defense of Obamacare, tax reform and even gun control. All will draw
fire.
The GOP's attacks on Obama's State of the Union address are not new. His first
State of the Union Address was hardly spared from withering GOP criticism. The
GOP harangued him for allegedly lashing out at Republicans. They hit their
shrillest level with his second State on of the Union address in January 2010.
GOP critics leveled all sorts of absurd charges against him before he even
uttered a word of his speech. They did it again in 2012 when former Indiana
governor Mitch Daniels ripped him for allegedly being a polarizing, divisive
leader. In 2013, the GOP was slightly more restrained and simply accused again
him of pushing a liberal agenda and warning that much of his legislative agenda
was either DOA in Congress or would face rough sledding.
The GOP though will add one more wrinkle to its dig at Obama this year. It will
do it with a woman. Washington House Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers was carefully
chosen by the GOP to deliver the GOP rebuttal. The reason is nakedly obvious.
She's a she. The GOP has been shellacked in recent years by the top heavy vote of
women for Obama and other Democrats. The rebuttal from Rodgers is the party's
crude attempt at a gender image make-over. That's even more important in 2014
with the crucial mid-term elections less than a year away.
But Obama, as in his annual addresses in the past, is on firm ground in that
Americans still overwhelmingly want him and Congress to end the rancor and work
together to resolve the crucial problems and issues that face the nation.
That's not in the cards for many in the GOP and for some Democrats who are squeamish that Obama will give too much away to theGOP in pursuit of moderation. But what is sure is that his 2014 State of the Union address is under fire again just as all of his others have been.
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