Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

State of the Union: Open Thread

Tags:

In a few hours President Obama will deliver his third State of the Union address.  An incisive thought:


The one thing America does not need to hear tonight is that we are a great people who need only remember all those glorious things we have in common, etc. etc., wha-dee-doo-dah. We are not a great people. Not in the way we treat ourselves in our politics, anyway. We are frightened. We lash out. We kick the country as though it were a lawnmower that won’t start. In 2010, just as the president and his administration managed to lift their heads above the brim of the ditch in which their predeceesors had dumped the country, We, The People elected the most retrograde, brick-stupid, poo-flinging monkeyhouse of a House of Representatives in the history of the Republic.

Charles P Pierce The State of the Union Is Angry Esquire 24 Jan 12

Hard to argue with.  This speech will set the frame for the remainder of Obama’s first term and the posture Democrats adopt for the vital upcoming election.  How’s he doing?


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 109 Comments

109 comments

  1. Shaun Appleby

    From Romney’s recent stump schtick, emphasis added:


    “You know that this president has run out of ideas. He’s run out of excuses. And with your help, 2012 will be the year we run him out of the White House.”

    Reid J Epstein – Mitt Romney: Obama tells ‘tall tales’ Politico 24 Jan 12

    I really wish the “statesmen” of the Republican party would refrain from phrasing their appeals to their constituencies like they’re agitating for a lynch mob.  In context, it is simply revolting.  Shame on the lot of them.

  2. spacemanspiff

    … for The State of the Union.

    Talking Points: An America Built to Last

    — In his State of the Union Address, the President will lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last — an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.

    — The President believes this is a make or break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it. What’s at stake is the very survival of the basic American promise that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, and put a little away for retirement.

    — The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent; no debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while more Americans barely get by. Or we can build a nation where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.

    — The fact is, the economic security of the middle class has eroded for decades. Long before the recession, good jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Hard work stopped paying off for too many Americans. Those at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but the vast majority of Americans struggled with costs that were growing and paychecks that weren’t.

    — In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. Mortgages were sold to people who couldn’t afford or understand them. Banks made huge bets and bonuses made with other people’s money. It was a crisis that cost us more than eight million jobs and plunged our economy and the world into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover.

    — The President has been clear that we need to do more to create jobs and help economic growth. But under his leadership and thanks to action taken by this President, the economy is growing again. The economy has added a total of 3.2 million private sector jobs over the last 22 months.

    — American manufacturing is creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. The American auto industry is coming back. Today, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. Together, we’ve agreed to cut the deficit by more than 2 trillion. And the President signed into law new rules to hold Wall Street accountable. He stands on a solid record and tonight will lay out a blueprint that will ensure an economy built to last over the long term.

    — For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. We’ve decimated al Qaeda’s leadership, delivered justice to Osama bin Laden, and put that terrorist network on the path to defeat. We’ve made important progress in Afghanistan, and begun a transition so Afghans can assume more responsibility. We joined with allies and partners to protect the Libyan people as they ended the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.

    — We cannot go back to an economy based on outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits. The President intends to keep moving forward and rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded — an economy built to last.

  3. Shaun Appleby

    To Fox blathering on in preperation for the SOTU and have now heard several times that people are “forgetting” that Romney paid tax on the money he invested in the first place, which seems to me both an assumption and an attempt to conceal the ploy, beloved of corporations everywhere, to compensate partners and upper management with equity rather than cash:


    The discussion of Romney’s returns has reignited the political debate over the tax treatment of investments and particularly carried interest, or the profits stake that private-equity managers receive from successful investments even if they don’t invest their own money. It is taxed at capital gains rates, and President Barack Obama and many Democrats want to reverse that policy, calling it unfair.

    Richard Rubin and Jesse Drucker – Romney’s 13.9% Tax Rate Shows Power of Investment Tax Preference Bloomberg 25 Jan 12

    Anyone have a better understanding of this?  Seems to me Fox is trying to pull another fast one.

  4. Strummerson

    It doesn’t matter what he does or says.  They will misrepresent his policies, pour their bile at him and blame him for being “divisive.”  I usually hesitate to reduce even the fanatical opposition to race in a simple way.  But basically, they blame the black guy for their racism.  Maybe I am just in a shitty mood.  But I just saw Romney’s comments.  I watched the last debate from a recumbent bike at the gym.  Great workout, but I couldn’t get to sleep for hours and hours.  I feel like DTO.  The game is fixed.  He can’t succeed no matter what he does.  He speaks well and he’s an empty teleprompter.  He doesn’t speak well, he fails to inspire.  The economy is turning, but he’s wrecking it.  He tries to work with the other side and he’s “leading from behind.”

    Strum is blue.  Don’t know if I can even watch.  Gonna go strum a guitar for a bit…

  5. Shaun Appleby


    Oft expectation fails, and most oft where most it promises; and oft it hits where hope is coldest; and despair most sits.

    Having said that the odds that the Right would have a meltdown were pretty predictable; let’s hope it is a sign of existential crisis, literally.  I see lots to be chipper about and if we are going to have “class warfare,” well, bring it on.

  15. Shaun Appleby

    Is Obama tipping the corporate tax code on its head and rhetorically rewriting it?  Sounds that way.

  16. Shaun Appleby

    Just pat down Chinese goods on their way in.  Tempted to short the Chinese stock market this evening.

  18. Shaun Appleby

    Him just rescind the Clean Water Act exemption for hydraulic fracturing by executive fiat?  It is about time.  That has immense implications and is within his power.  Big victory for environmentalists without appearing to be a concession; but he’s sticking with shale gas for now.  

    The Left never seems to get clear wins with this administration but in the long run it is probably for the best; if the Republicans get their hands on the White House the outcomes will be a repeat of 2000-08, or worse.

  19. Shaun Appleby

    Seems the theme of this speech is, “Send me the bill.”  As if, still…  It keeps people thinking of what the House might be doing if they weren’t preoccupied with a lynching.

    “Nation-building right here at home…”  Heh.  Love the left uppercuts.

  21. Shaun Appleby

    He’s playing all three keyboards of the bully-pulpit Wurlitzer, that’s for sure.  And it’s counterpunctual, too.

  32. spacemanspiff

    @howardfineman This is one of president’s best, most combative, substantive, politically shrewd speeches. Progressive but centrist, partisan but sensible.

  33. Shaun Appleby

    Mitch Daniels?  As uncharismatic as he is I sense, amongst the pablum, a stepping-back from some of the fractious rhetoric we hear regularly from the wannabee nominees.

  34. Shaun Appleby

    I actually liked the speech, except that it avoided deficit reduction talk and hit a few doubles on tax policy.

    I doubt that some of these micro-policies proposed will ever see the light of day, legislatively; it just sets the Republicans up as the obstacle.  I can see the tactical benefit of doing so but seems to me we are too far down the track where these “possibilities” are relevant.  They distract, however, from what seems to be a “line in the sand” on tax policy, which is the real gist of this; both to opponents and supporters.

    Dunno.  Doesn’t seem like a turning point though he’s staked out some territory which will probably prove beneficial in the upcoming election; though I agree with Sullivan that the contrasting analogy between the military and Congress is a bit creepy on afterthought.  Guess he’s just feeling a bit frustrated, which is wholly understandable.  Maybe it will play OK in Peoria.  He certainly dumped a bit of disapprobation on the Republican congressional cohort which was well deserved.

  35. Shaun Appleby

    Interesting interview with Pelosi recently:


    John King, CNN: “Because of your history with Speaker Gingrich, what goes through your mind when you think of the possibility … you could come back here next January or next February with a President Gingrich?”

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi: “Let me just say this. That will never happen.”

    King: “Why?”

    Pelosi: “He’s not going to be President of the United States. That’s not going to happen. Let me just make my prediction and stand by it, it isn’t going to happen.”

    King: “Why are you so sure?”

    Pelosi: “There is something I know. The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him that’s their prerogative. I don’t even think that’s going to happen.”

    Pelosi On A Gingrich Presidency: “That Will Never Happen” Real Clear Politics 24 Jan 12

    Anyone with any notion of what she’s referring to?

  36. Shaun Appleby

    Not saying I disagree, but still…


    I am a firm believer that primaries make stronger candidates. But at some point you just have to stand back, take a sip of bourbon, and sigh “Damn” under your breath as you behold the carnage being wrought within the Republican Party.

    Erick Erickson – We’re Fighting Over Two Guys and Neither Side Thinks the Other Can Win Red State 24 Jan 12

    This from the guy who has become what Jerome always wanted to be, Internet gatekeeper and minority kingmaker of a major party’s nomination contests.  If anyone has contributed more to the current state of the Republican dilemma it is only because they have been at it for longer.  Another little peek:


    The deadly consequence is a cage match between the base and the establishment both of whom are backing two deeply, deeply flawed candidates with the odds heavily against them in a general election.

    Erick Erickson – We’re Fighting Over Two Guys and Neither Side Thinks the Other Can Win Red State 24 Jan 12

    There isn’t much in the analysis I actually disagree with, frankly, but I’m an onlooker.  There seems to be a hint of Cheshire Cat indifference, even shadenfreude, in Erick’s commentary that leads one to believe rattling the Republican party’s cage is the end game here.  He goes on to suggest Newt and Mitt should both chuck in the towel and support a better imaginary candidate, followed by several hundred comments discussing the merits of this proposal.  And we have been drinking the Kool-aid?

  38. Rashaverak

    [Parental Advisory: much gore, and not of the al variety]

    But for the hair color, the guy about to get it at time stamp 04:19-04:20

    reminds me a bit of Bishop/Senator Orrin Hatch.

  39. fogiv

    President Barack Obama may not have many fans in the Republican party these days, but he is sitting pretty with the American public — at least as far as his State of the Union speech from last night is concerned. A CBS News poll following the president’s address showed 91 percent of Americans approved of Obama’s proposals:

    An overwhelming majority of Americans approved of the overall message in President Obama’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, according to a CBS News poll of speech watchers.

    According to the poll, which was conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the president’s address, 91 percent of those who watched the speech approved of the proposals Mr. Obama put forth during his remarks. Only nine percent disapproved.

    http://www.thegrio.com/politic…

    lulz

    Only nine percent disapproved.

    wow, those must be the saltiest motherfuckers on terra firma.

    see also this dispatch from teh land of teh Boenher bawler:

    Democratic pollster Geoff Garin conducted a focus group during last night’s State of the Union address with voters in Columbus, Ohio (a key swing state). The group was evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans/Independents – and, according to a memo by Garin, the overall reaction to the speech was extremely positive.

    A few highlights from the memo:

    •In a before-and-after test, the proportion of participants describing Obama as “a strong leader” rose from 39% to 71%.

    •Fully 78% said after the speech that Obama “looks out for the middle class,” up from 59% before the speech.

    •The share of participants who said Obama has good ideas for improving the economy rose from 39% before the speech to 79% after the speech.

    Perhaps the most notable point, to Decoder’s mind, was this:

    “Of particular interest in watching the dials during the speech were the number of points during which the President broke through with non-college-educated participants, who traditionally have been a skeptical and difficult audience for him. His discussion of jobs and economic fairness was especially effective with this group.”

    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/L…

Comments are closed.