What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
Do we even need to ask? Mr. Obama's recent inaugural address was 1937 all over again. It seems government can achieve anything by decree, except revive the sick economy. This SOTU is being advertised as a "bookend" to the inaugural -- bookends without books, I suppose. Mainly, as with after-the-fact edits to the Congressional Record, the president will amend and expand his previous remarks.
But, in my role as a speech bookie, recording bets and placing them, here is the book as I see it for tonight:
- SOTU addresses normally kick off a president's legislative agenda for the year ahead. On it's surface, so will this one. The reality will be different.
- Looking through the White House's pre-positioned proposals, something peculiar is pocketed in the vest of each major item: a poison pill.
- Consider immigration. If you read the president's recent speech in Las Vegas, or the talking points his staff distributed to accompany it, Mr. Obama and the Senate Gang of Eight (or six, depending on who's counting) are of one mind. Kumbaya.
- Not so fast. The Gang of Whatever's core compromise was a certifiably secure border to precede (security first was the left's concession) a rapid path to a green card (an innovation) and a slow but clear path to citizenship (the right's concession). Without a concession on each side--and the introduction of widely distributed green cards as a holding place for those already here--the deal could not have been done.
- Yet even before the President delivered his speech, the White House let it be known that this part of the deal (the core of the agreement) was unacceptable. In essence, the president agreed to everything, except what was essential.
- Poison pills are all over the place.
- On the deficit, having got a tax increase with few, if any, real spending cuts in the fiscal-cliff stand off, now the president wants to raise taxes again, and on the same people: the so-called rich -- a non-starter for the GOP.
- On the sequester, expect the president to sound like the soul of reason tonight, but in the end to say that any and all spending cuts to head off the sequester are off the table. He will frame GOP intransigence as the cause of whatever bad happens when the sequester kicks in.
- His goal will be to position Republicans in Congress as obstructionist, then to pummel them in the media until those from marginal districts and states buckle. Divide, humiliate, and ultimately (in the 2014 elections) conquer.
But will it work? Much will depend on public response, which in turn will depend in part on the media -- and on this last we all may be in for a surprise.
In media interviews on this issue over the past week, I have been arguing that poison pill strategies are not normal or constructive. Facing a Congress in the hands of the other party as he started his second term, Bill Clinton was accommodating, not confrontational. Facing a divided Congress, so was Ronald Reagan.
The results: Reagan achieved tax reform. Had it not been for the scandal he brought on himself, Clinton could have achieved Social Security reform. Today, with one house of Congress in the hands of the opposition (in this sense, the election was a tie), the president is playing as if he held all the cards.
The surprise, at least to me, has been that I have encountered almost no push back to this line of argument. Almost no, "but isn't it all the Republicans fault?" The Washington press corps runs as a herd -- one that makes sudden, sharp, entirely unexpected turns in an instant. Perhaps out of boredom, this herd may be ready to turn. Will it?
Here's another thing about the DC press corps. I said it influences public opinion (yes, I know, not a stunning insight), but it works the other way, too. It is just as driven by public opinion as politicans are. The Washington media see the president as popular now. But if that changes -- if no bounce comes from the speech and if his poll numbers turn soft -- their support for Mr. Obama could change, too.
I am not saying that the members of the MSM will morph into Sean Hannitys or Rush Limbaughs, fierce and coherent critics from the right. I am saying that, to me, they feel poised to say that the president (either by way of design or ineptness) is Washington's principal obstructor.
Even the most torrid love affairs can turn tedious. You can feel it when the thrill is starting to go. This one could have a new burst of passion or turn to ashes. But that's the point. On the morning before the president delivers this year's State of the Union address, it could go either way.
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Comments:
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
My big curiosity is what he'll say about North Korea. That country has few things going for it save a sense of timing.
Apr '12
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
Certainly, your post is spot-on as usual...that is, until your analysis of the DC Press corps.
You're using the past to guide your predictions of the future, which normally would be fruitful. But you're not factoring in the sea change.
Mark Halperin wrote a book after the 2004 campaign called: The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. In it, he dissects the failed Kerry campaign, piece by piece and almost day by day.
Who does he blame most? Rove? Bush? Kerry's advisors? No. He shows clearly what ultimately killed Kerry was Matt Drudge. Quite compelling stuff.
The media turned on Carter about half way through his term. Events drove them to it, yes, but they soon realized that they bought 12 years in the wilderness for allowing things to get out of hand with Jimmy.
Never again.
Edited on February 12, 2013 at 3:30pmDec '12
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
The SOTU will tell us nothing while saying much(k). There is no credibility in the words of Obama I. This will be another excellent exercise is discernment, context and patience.
I wonder if calls for TV repairmen increases the day after a narcissistic, commie poseur drones (heh) on and on.
Here I Stand... selecting a John Wayne movie for tonight.
Aug '11
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
He'll say that the Norks' Nukes are the Republicans' fault . . . somehow.
Dec '11
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
If it were actually watched by all the members of the electorate, it would make 51% of them feel much, much better about themselves and this president's beautiful "balanced path forward." The other 49% would be a mixture of disbelief, despondency, anger, and apathy. That 49% number may be a bit high.
As far as content: who cares. The words will only matter for as long as when they are needed; they will then be forgotten entirely by the president, the media, and the 51%...until those same words are needed again. We live in Orwellian times.
Dec '11
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
[double post]
Edited on February 12, 2013 at 3:54pmRe: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
Fascinating--and the most hopeful analysis I've encountered.
Jun '10
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
If he says anything significant, I'll have to hear about it tomorrow from someone paid to listen to his unique brand of oratorical gruel.
Jul '10
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
I am not as sanguine as you on this issue. I don't see the DC press corps doing anything to unhorse this president. They didn't back in FDR's time, and they won't today, and there was a heck of a lot more reason to do it then.
There was the barest ripple of dissent over Benghazi. There should have been a firestorm. Instead, the administration has been allowed to put forth idiotic stands with no counter punch. ?Why would there be a difference now.
The media as it is currently composed is firmly in the wallet of the Left. You seem to be a great optimist about that; I am not.
Jun '12
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
What will we hear tonight? Lies, half-truths, falsifications and fabrications. Along with the word "I" one thousand times. Such as "I killed Bin Laden."
May '10
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
"...Events drove them to it, yes, but they soon realized that they bought 12 years in the wilderness for allowing things to get out of hand with Jimmy.
"Never again."
Exactly. They'll stand by any leftist politician until he starts damaging the brand. And the only meaningful damage is losing an election. Obama's safe in the arms of the press.
Nov '10
Re: What Will Tonight's State of the Union Address Tell Us?
As rebuttal the GOP should just replay -- every time -- Ronald Reagan's famous inaugural speech after every SOTU. It said it all, and superimposed on anything Obama says, the contrast is clear and the holes in Obama's statements are obvious.