2015 State of the Union address

The State of the Union address 2015

State the key legislation Obama wants CONGRESS to bring in:

·         To stop treating childcare as a side/women’s issue and treat it as a national economic priority, to provide high quality, affordable childcare

·         To take action to help states adopt paid leave laws, and alleviate the forty three million workers who have no paid sick leave

·         To ensure Congress passes a law to ensure women get paid the same as men

·         To ensure Congress makes provisions for minimum wage

·         To persuade Congress to adopt a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college to ZERO

·         To persuade Congress to give Obama trade promotion authority to protect American workers with strong new trade deals that are fair

·         To adopt the new ‘Precision Medicine’ to bring the US closer to curing cancer, diabetes and cystic fibrosis

·         To ensure there is a free and open internet

·         To close loopholes that have been exploited by the top 1% who avoid paying taxes

·         To act unilaterally and for Congress to pass a resolution that authorises the use of force against ISIL

·         Congress is to begin the work of ending the Cuban embargo – Pope Francis: diplomacy is the work of small steps

·         To urge Congress to finally pass the legislation to meet the evolving threats of cyber-attacks, combat identity theft and protect the information of children

What Obama will prevent Congress from doing

·         OBAMA will veto any new sanctions bill that threatens to undo the progress of Iran building up its nuclear programme

·         OBAMA wants to ensure Congress doesn’t endanger the health of children by turning back the clock on efforts to prevent climate change

What do you think of his speech?

An honest speech, highlighting Obama’s successes over the last few months including that of Alan Gross; despite going through ‘hard times’

Does he sound conciliatory/pacifying or combative/argumentative?

Pumping his arms, pointing his index finger and gesturing with his hands, President Barack Obama's body language at last night's State of the Union speech was anything but conciliatory. Although he admitted having flaws and promised to seek Republican ideas, he deliberately avoided giving the impression that the balance of power in Washington had shifted away from the Oval Office that he will occupy for two more years. Obama gave his hour-long, annual State of the Union address yesterday to the first fully Republican-controlled Congress of his presidency, and the mood was anything but conciliatory.

Obama continuously referred to Congress, as if he was ordering their next few actions. This could appear as Obama appearing as combative, as he is not tackling the problem of divided government and partisan gridlock and simply overriding it entirely; his constant threat of vetoes illustrates this.

Obama appeared as quite arrogant; his claim that he didn’t have any further campaigning to do suggested his next two years would run smoothly. If anything, the opposite of this is happening in reality, with the Republicans back in control of both houses. 

How has it bee received? 

New York Times

Fox News

I have no more campaigns to run. A few Republicans cheekily applauded; Obama smiled and added, ‘because I won both of them’. NY Times sees Obama’s speech as provocative and confident demeanour. Even without congressional support, promoting his ideas allows Mr. Obama to force other political actors to respond. And he can point to past efforts that did not succeed in Congress but produced progress on other levels. Although he has failed to push through an increase in the minimum wage, for example, a number of states have responded to his appeals and raised it on their own.

Optimistic Obama Out of Touch With Americans. President Obama’s speech was out of step with the wishes of the American people and the realities we are facing at home and abroad. By focussing his agenda exclusively and not a bipartisan agenda, Obama is ignoring the will of the Americans who voted Republican in November. This appears ‘disappointing’ as Obama pledged to work alongside Congress to be responsive to the American public preferences. President Obama ended his speech with the type of language heard after the midterms – “we need debate without demonizing each other,” he said – it is still not clear that the president is willing to practice what he preaches.