The Oklahoman: Obama Says ‘Shadow Of Crisis Has Passed And State Of The Union Is Strong’

The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel

President Barack Obama challenged Congress on Tuesday to leverage the nation’s relative economic strength into a future that promised more opportunities and financial rewards for the middle class.

“Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well?” the president asked in his State of the Union speech. “Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?”

Addressing a Congress controlled by Republicans for the first time in his presidency, a confident Obama made clear that he would stand by his principles, despite the disastrous election results for his party in November. He reiterated veto threats for legislation that would violate those principles.

But he said he had no more campaigns to run and was hoping both parties could engage in politics that better reflect the nation’s values.

“A better politics is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears,” he said. “A better politics is one where we debate without demonizing each other; where we talk issues and values and principles and facts, rather than ‘gotcha’ moments or trivial gaffes or fake controversies that have nothing to do with people’s daily lives.”

Obama said it had been a “breakthrough year for America” and that the nation had emerged from a harsh recession and two wars with the freedom to write its own future.

“America, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.”

Obama’s next-to-the-last State of the Union speech also touched on the threat of terrorist attacks on people and computers; racial tensions in the United States; relations with long-time enemies Cuba and Iran; trade; internet regulation; climate change; and the need to improve the nation’s infrastructure.

He said the nation stood united with victims of terrorism “from a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris” and vowed to continue to hunt down terrorists and dismantle their networks.

But Obama’s main focus was on helping the middle class through new spending programs, business regulations and tax changes that GOP lawmakers are not philosophically inclined to support.

The president argued that the middle-class workers would be helped by his proposals to guarantee sick leave and equal pay for women, more subsidies for child care, a higher minimum wage and lower mortgage premiums.

“These ideas will make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of families,” Obama said. “That is a fact. And that’s what all of us — Republicans and Democrats alike — were sent here to do.”

Unemployment has fallen dramatically since Obama took office in 2009 and the U.S. economy has expanded steadily for the last few years, but the median income has actually shrunk, making it tougher for middle-class families to make ends meet.

GOP response

In the Republican response to the Obama’s speech, freshman Sen. Joni Ernst, of Iowa, said the president and Democrats had contributed to middle-class woes.

Ernst said, “We see our neighbors agonize over stagnant wages and lost jobs. We see the hurt caused by canceled health-care plans and higher monthly insurance bills. We see too many moms and dads put their own dreams on hold while growing more fearful about the kind of future they’ll be able to leave to their children.

“Americans have been hurting, but when we demanded solutions, too often Washington responded with the same stale mindset that led to failed policies like Obamacare. It’s a mindset that gave us political talking points, not serious solutions.”

Tax proposals

The president outlined his tax proposals, saying he wanted to close “loopholes” that reward companies keeping profits abroad and “lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth.

“We can use that money to help more families pay for childcare and send their kids to college,” he said.

Republican lawmakers have already rejected the proposals, which have been widely described as a Robin Hood approach to tax policy.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said Tuesday, “The president’s latest tax proposal would force unfair redistribution of wealth, rather than creation of worthwhile employment opportunities. In any Congress, successfully enacting such tax policies is unlikely, but that is even truer in this Congress.”

Islamic State

The president called again for Congress to pass a resolution authorizing force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He said American leadership was stopping the group’s advance.

“Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group,” he said.

“We’re also supporting a moderate opposition in Syria that can help us in this effort, and assisting people everywhere who stand up to the bankrupt ideology of violent extremism.”

Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard and a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, said lawmakers would “debate strategies to confront terrorism and the threats posed by al-Qaida, ISIL and those radicalized by them. We know threats like these can’t just be wished away.”

‘One people’

The president reflected on the 2004 Democratic convention speech in Boston that first brought him national attention. In that speech — made during his campaign for the U.S. Senate — he said there were no blue or red states, just united states.

“Over the past six years, the pundits have pointed out more than once that my presidency hasn’t delivered on this vision,” the president said Tuesday night.

“How ironic, they say, that our politics seems more divided than ever. It’s held up as proof not just of my own flaws — of which there are many — but also as proof that the vision itself is misguided and naive, and that there are too many people in this town who actually benefit from partisanship and gridlock for us to ever do anything about it.

“I know how tempting such cynicism may be. But I still think the cynics are wrong.

“I still believe that we are one people. I still believe that together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long. I believe this because over and over in my six years in office, I have seen America at its best.”

Addressing the division that arose last year after two police officer killings of black men, the president looked for common ground.

“We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York,” he said.

“But surely we can understand a father who fears his son can’t walk home without being harassed. Surely we can understand the wife who won’t rest until the police officer she married walks through the front door at the end of his shift.

“And surely we can agree it’s a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law enforcement, to reform America’s criminal justice system so that it protects and serves us all.”

Online:The Oklahoman