“ I Will Not Quit” President Obama.

I listened to President Obama’s first State of the Union speech with a group of people in Washington, D.C. (“Progressive
State of the Union Watch Party @ Local 16 in DC!”) During the speech, the audience seemed to be energized, supportive, spirited, and mesmerized by the president’s speech giving ability. Who wouldn’t?

Some of the loudest applause from the audience came, when the President said:

*“… realize that for every success story, there are other stories, of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from; who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response.”

*“I do not accept second place for the United States of America.”

*“we need to invest in the skills and education of our people.”

*“To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans. Instead, let’s take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants.”
*“At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. By the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. All this was before I walked in the door.”
*“With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people. And I’d urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems.”

*“This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. We are going to crack down on violations of equal pay laws — so that women get equal pay for an equal day’s work.”
There was some laughter whenever some grim faces appeared on the screen. (McCain, Boehner, Alito, etc.) There was also some murmur of some disagreement and suspicion heard, when the President spoke of “ clean-coal technologies.”

My Take.

The “I will not Quit” speech as an oration was fantastic. As it is popularly stated,” the devil is in the detail”. To me, the issue is  the difference between image and substance, reality and politics. It is the difference between shallow promise and commitment kept. In other words, is this speech only a rhetoric or an admittance of mistakes committed, and a promise of going back to uphold the political plank that the President was voted in to office? Is this Obama’s renaissance speech?

Has the President learned from the lessons of the election results of Nov.3rd. 2009?

“The disappointment of the progressive forces that helped put Obama in the White House. (Especially young white voters). Disparity between campaign rhetoric and reality.” Politicalsnapshots.wordpress.com (nov.09)

Is President Obama conscious of the failure of the so-called bipartisanship?
“While the idea of bipartisanship sounds very appealing, let us not forget, what it actually denotes is abandonment of principle. Moreover, let us ask how bipartisanship has helped move Obama’s policies. The fact is, that the Republicans are working to block everything that the President is proposing. They want him to fail. They want the Democrats to loose seats in both Houses of Congress. Which, they will.  Republicans clearly understand that they have a partisan agenda which is different from the Democrats. It is only the spineless Democrats who want to be loved by all. By bending backward for the cooperation of the Republicans, President Obama will end up antagonizing the people that elected him.” Politicalsnapshots.wordpress.com (lessons from President Johnson.Nov.09)
In dealing with health care, is the president considering the poll results in the aftermath of the Massachusetts election debacle?
“A poll of Obama voters conducted by Research 2000 on election night in Massachusetts paints a very different picture. The poll found that 18 percent of people who voted for Brown also voted for Obama in the 2008 general election. Of these voters, 82 percent said they wanted a public option, and 57 percent said they thought the health care reform bill in Congress did not go far enough. The poll also found that among the Obama voters who stayed home, 86 percent said they wanted a public option, and by 6-to1 they said the bill in Congress did not go far enough.” “Opinion: Lead Health Care Reform With Conviction.” Dr. Howard Dean.
We shall see.

Professor Mekonen Haddis