By Elizabeth Backstrom
Obama’s sixth’s State of the Union address took a confident, even conversational tone at times as the president discussed what one of my friends labeled ‘a domestic populist agenda’ — plans to implement free community college for much of the nation, affordable child care and increased tax cuts for working families with children. He also touted the success of the Affordable Care Act, citing 10 million formerly uninsured who received coverage in 2014.
“That’s what middle-class economics is — the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. We don’t just want everyone to share in America’s success — we want everyone to contribute to our success,” he said.
I was impressed with these plans. I’ll wait to see how many of them come to fruition before a divided and increasingly partisan Congress. The issues facing lower and middle-class families and individuals — childcare, affordable student loans, house payments, health insurance — for me, these help conceptualize a complicated and politicized issue referred to as ‘income inequality’ that Obama promised to address in his speech last night. Income inequality is kind of like ‘tax cuts’ to many people: something that sounds good, but that when it comes down to brass tacks, we don’t always know a lot about it.
I’ll borrow a strategy from Obama on this one and say that I’m not an economist, but I do have access to the research of some very bright economists, who announced the disturbing news Monday that by 2016, the wealthiest 1 percent will own more than half of the world’s wealth.
It was encouraging to see our president put forth practical policies to help middle-class families in his SOTU speech after reading this. Less so that the House recently voted to delay the Volcker Rule, further weakening financial regulations meant to protect us after the 2008 crisis, but I remain hopeful.
In last night’s speech, Obama also notably addressed gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans, including them in a discussion about discrimination and the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
“As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we’re threatened… it’s why we speak out against the deplorable anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in certain parts of the world. It’s why we continue to reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims – the vast majority of whom share our commitment to peace. That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We do these things not only because they’re right, but because they make us safer.”
The speech also touched on plans for new or renewed efforts on global trade agreements, highlighted 2014’s historic job growth (the best since 1999) and discussed the growing threat of climate change. I can’t possibly fit it all in a reasonable column — you can find the full text of the speech here.
I’ve listened to many political speeches, and have grown jaded over the years about the divide between politicians’ promises and their actions. Hypocrisy is abhorrent to me, and it seems rampant in Washington, with no immediate plans to leave. However, as I listened to Obama’s sixth SOTU, at least some of that fell away for a while. I’ve followed his track record and I admire his performance in a gridlocked city. But it’s more than that — when I hear him talk, I’m reminded of Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats, the radio broadcasts that won the heart of America throughout the Great Depression and World War II, addressing the nation as ‘friends.’
“Imagine if we did something different,” he said in closing.
“Understand, a better politics isn’t one where Democrats abandon their agenda or Republicans simply embrace mine. A better politics is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears.”
