Annotated State of the Union Speech - James Fallows - Politics - The Atlantic

Obama's hand - editing a draft.

Don't they know how to find the double-space key at the White House?

James Fallows is an excellent experienced analyst of Presidential rhetoric. He was a speech-writer for Jimmy Carter, a much less satisfying job than writing for Barack Obama who actually closely edits his own speeches even when he doesn't write the draft himself. DON'T read the excerpt below. Click on the link. Then you will find that when you put the cursor over an underlined phrase Fallows' comments pop up. - GWC 

Annotated State of the Union Speech - James Fallows - Politics - The Atlantic:

Remarks of President Barack Obama—As Prepared for Delivery

State of the Union Address

"An America Built to Last"

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Washington, DC

As Prepared for Delivery -

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud salute ^[1]to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought—and several thousand gave their lives.

We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes ^[2]has made the United States safer and more respected around the world^[3]. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden^[4] is not a threat to this country^[5]. Most of al Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.

These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness, and teamwork of America's Armed Forces.^[6] At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They're not consumed with personal ambition^[7]. They don't obsess over their differences.^[8] They focus on the mission at hand. They work together^[9].

Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example^[10]. Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we're in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren't so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last,^[11]where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.
 p.s. Fallows is not the only one making notes; Here is the National Academies Press version with links to resources about the problems of which the President spoke.

'via Blog this'Annotated State of the Union Speech - James Fallows - Politics - The Atlantic:

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Tax equity - Obama's State of the Union theme

"We don't begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it's not because they envy the rich. It's because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don't need and the country can't afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference - like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That's not right. Americans know it's not right."

Barack Obama, State of the Union address, January 24, 2012

Was Obama's use of the phrase
`built to last' a dog whistle to Deadheads?

I think that gets it right. Like other professional families we pay taxes at twice Mitt Romney's 13.9%. To say that he should pay what we pay is not envy. It is asking that those who can pay a decent share.

The Anti-Entitlement Strategy - Thomas Edsall - - NYTimes.com

In a December 19 editorial in USA Today Mitt Romney delivered his counter to President Obama's progressive big thematic speech in Ossawotomie, Kansas.  Romney declared the choice is between an "Entitlement Society or an Opportunity society".  Obama framed the issue as whether we care for each other or pursue radical individualism.  So the opposing candidates (it's a given the Romney gets the GOP nod) agree on what they differ about.  Romney will run on the politics of resentment against Obama and the politics of hope (a job made much harder by the protracted difficulties and relentless opposition he has faced as President).  - GWC
The Anti-Entitlement Strategy - NYTimes.com:
by Thomas B. Edsall

(Journalism professor, Columbia University)

"Romney’s goal is to persuade swing voters of the imminent moral and material danger that Obama and the Democratic party pose. Here are three more lines from the Romney op-ed.

Over the past three years, Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an Entitlement Society.

If we continue on this course for another four years, we may pass the point of no return. We will have created a society that contains a sizable contingent of long-term jobless, dependent on government benefits for survival.

Government dependency can only foster passivity and sloth.

This is not the Republicanism of compassionate conservatism, far from it. In recent weeks, the former Massachusetts Governor has laid down a set of markers planting himself firmly on the right – just as Obama has begun to stake out a more leftward position. In outline, we are seeing the beginning of the general election campaign.

Romney’s adoption of an anti-entitlement strategy comes at a time when he appears to be looking up from the primaries toward Election Day, which suggests that his hard-line stance will be central to his campaign against Obama and not just a temporary maneuver. We are headed toward an ideological confrontation over the next 11 months of an intensity rarely seen in American political history."

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President Obama: "In America, We Are Greater Together" | The White House

In the most important economic speech of his presidency, Barack Obama went to Osawatomie Kansas to channel Teddy Roosevelt's  speech a century ago.  For the first time, as Robert Reich observed, a President addressed directly both the political ideology and the structural economic challenges that threaten America's favorite self-image: land of opportunity.  In one of the highlights of a speech (HERE is the transcript) that should be read, the President said:

"But this isn’t just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make or break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement.

Now, in the midst of this debate, there are some who seem to be suffering from a kind of collective amnesia. After all that’s happened, after the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, they want to return to the same practices that got us into this mess. In fact, they want to go back to the same policies that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for too many years. Their philosophy is simple: we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules.
Well, I’m here to say they are wrong." VIDEO of this highlight

President Obama: "In America, We Are Greater Together" | The White House:

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The President's Speech: The American Jobs Act

President Obama got a lot right tonight.  Including the name of the bill - the American Jobs Act.

The full text is HERE.  Below is a key quote - one that should be his theme all the way through to November 2012  After that is the enhanced version of the speech - with charts - from the White House.
We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. But in the middle of a Civil War, he was also a leader who looked to the future - a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad; launch the National Academy of Sciences; and set up the first land grant colleges. And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set.

Ask yourselves - where would we be right now if the people who sat here before us decided not to build our highways and our bridges; our dams and our airports? What would this country be like if we had chosen not to spend money on public high schools, or research universities, or community colleges? Millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather  had the opportunity to go to school because of the GI Bill. Where would we be if they hadn't had that chance?

How many jobs would it have cost us if past Congresses decided not to support the basic research that led to the Internet and the computer chip? What kind of country would this be if this Chamber had voted down Social Security or Medicare just because it violated some rigid idea about what government could or could not do? How many Americans would have suffered as a result?
No single individual built America on their own. We built it together. We have been, and always will be, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; a nation with responsibilities to ourselves and with responsibilities to one another. Members of Congress, it is time for us to meet our responsibilities.

What the Left Doesn’t Understand About Obama - NYTimes.com

One needs to count votes. There are criticisms to be made of President Obama (mine is failure to vigorously defend the Keynesian stimulus approach) but weakness is not one.   Elihu Root famously said that a lawyer spends half his time telling his clients they are bloody fools.  Same for presidents. The key message is we can borrow what we need now, restore prosperity, and  control deficits and health care spending in the long run.  - GWC

Jonathan Chait explains:

What the Left Doesn’t Understand About Obama - NYTimes.com: "President Obama underestimated the depth of the crisis in 2009 and left himself with bad options in the event the economy failed to recover as quickly as he hoped. And yet the wave of criticism from the left over the stimulus is fundamentally flawed: it ignores the real choices Obama faced (and the progressive decisions he made) and wishes away any constraints upon his power.

The most common hallmark of the left’s magical thinking is a failure to recognize that Congress is a separate, coequal branch of government consisting of members whose goals may differ from the president’s. "
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Enough, already - U.S. debt is the most secure investment

The Times reports

Wall Street stocks plummeted on Monday as skittish investors, already concerned about the economy, struggled to work out the implications of an unprecedented downgrade of the United States government’s credit rating, and sought safer places to put their money.

The "safer place" was... U.S. Treasury 10 year bonds!

So why did the interest rate paid by the downgraded U.S. to lenders  go DOWN not UP?  The stock market fell again today, by 6% pushing it into negative territory for the year.  Why didn't the Republican debt triumph restore confidence in the stock market?

Did the S&P downgrade lead investors to conclude that  U.S. debt is unreliable?  And therefore demand the feds pay higher interest to reflect the increased risk?   NO, because Treasury bonds are actually AAAA! as Obama said.  The U.S. paid less to borrow money today than it did before the debt deal.  And investors bought lots of it.  But you would never know that by following any of the headline news services.

interest rates on 10 year Treasury bonds

What actual investors fear is that the people are going broke - thanks to the government austerity policies that the elite and the deluded applaud as they vote Republican, Tory, Christian Democrat, Berlusconi, etc.
So what actually happened today is the stock market went down, so people bought secure debt: 10 year U.S. treasury notes at 2.4%.  Another group of ignorami (retirement advisers) used to tell us that we could expect an 8% return on our retirement savings.  Really?  10 year treasuries are a good deal - compared with giving Citibank $1 million.  Citi is paying .50%  That is one-half of one percent.

Clean House with new economic advisers - Brad DeLong

Brad DeLong reviews the opinions of key actors in the Obama administration's team two years ago.  The former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy  concludes that the only hopeful thing to do is clean house: put new (or returning) actors in key positions, like Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Federal Reserve Bank, etc.

With characteristic gusto he offers

If you were to ask me what thing--aside from the complete and immediate collapse of the Republican Party and the resignation of all of its legislators from both houses of the Congress: if the previous fifteen years had not taught me that Republican politicians have nothing useful to contribute to national governance the last three years would certainly have done so--would most give me confidence that America would surmount this current economic crisis, it would be personnel changes to put qualified people who saw the world as it was in the summer of 2009 into the key economic jobs:

• Laura Tyson or someone like her to Treasury Secretary (recess-appointed, acting, whatever).

• Larry Summers or someone like him to Fed Chair (recess-appointed, acting, whatever).

• Alan Blinder or someone like him to CEA Chair (recess-appointed, acting, whatever)

• Christy Romer or someone like her to Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

xpostfactoid: A lover of fairy tales casts Obama as villain-in-chief

Andrew Sprung refutes David Westen's attack on Obama.

xpostfactoid: A lover of fairy tales casts Obama as villain-in-chief

Fact Sheet: Bipartisan Debt Deal: A Win for the Economy and Budget Discipline | The White House

Fact Sheet: Bipartisan Debt Deal: A Win for the Economy and Budget Discipline | The White House:

"In Securing this Bipartisan Deal, the President Rejected Proposals that Would Have Placed the Sole Burden of Deficit Reduction on Low-Income or Middle-Class Families: The President stood firmly against proposals that would have placed the sole burden of deficit reduction on lower-income and middle-class families. This includes not only proposals in the House Republican Budget that would have undermined the core commitments of Medicare to our seniors and forced tens of millions of low-income Americans to go without health insurance, but also enforcement mechanisms that would have forced automatic cuts to low-income programs. The enforcement mechanism in the deal exempts Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare benefits, unemployment insurance, programs for low-income families, and civilian and military retirement."

Jonathan Bernstein : Presidential Persuasion

Jonathan Bernstein today features a long quote from presidential historian Richard Neustadt about the nature of presidential power. It is not wielded, generally, by "giving speeches, getting out on the campaign trail and forcefully making your case". It is about using the power of the presidency (including speech) to get others with power to do something - recognizing their ambitions, their dependencies on their constituents, etc. Click on the link and read it. Then think about the imminent big deal which will dominate the news for the next 10 days. - GWC

A plain blog about politics: Persuasion:

 "Ezra Klein's post yesterday on what he called 'the paradox of presidential leadership' made a strong case, with which I agree, that going public is apt to be counterproductive in an era in which the out party demonizes the president and demonizes compromise.
Klein refers to Richard Neustadt, however, and I do want to clarify Neustadt's idea of presidential persuasion. It's not, or at least not primarily, about what Klein describes as Washington's idea of persuasion, which is 'taking strong positions, giving speeches, getting out on the campaign trail and forcefully making your case.' I think a nice long quote from Neustadt is in order"   (click on the link above and you'll see it - gwc)

Keynesian economics: Krugman explains

When I was young there were two choices: Marx or Keynes.  The falling rate of profit and the general crisis of capitalism yielded its cure: central planning.

Keynes/Roosevelt/Paul Samuelson stood for government intervention when the capital markets froze up.

Then came Milton Friedman and the rise of the free marketeers.  Now they have the upper hand and Keynes's heirs like Paul Krugman are frozen out of the White House  because even though they were right they were politically anathema to the right with whom compromise was necessary.  so Obama and Geithner guessed low on the stimulus needed, ran into a Republican fan when it proved short of being enough, and are now stuck in a major jam.

So what is Keynesian economics about?  HERE is Paul Krugman's Keynes Lecture.  Warning - it's wonkish and it has graphs with xy axes..

Obama: The Egyptian People Have Spoken

February 11, 2011 Mubarak steps down and Obama welcomes the change.
"It was non-violence that bent the arc of history once more".

Obama’s Finest Hour by Garry Wills | NYRBlog | The New York Review of Books

Garry Wills - whose great exposition of rhetoric Lincoln at Gettysburg won a Pulitzer Prize - calls the Tucson speech Obama's Finest Hour:

In preparing his speech, Obama had called and talked to the hurt and the survivors. He could tell their personal stories. Michelle Obama invited the family of the murdered nine-year-old to visit her in the White House. Obama came to the speech from the bedsides of those who had been wounded. Their message to him was one of dedication: “They believed, and I believe, that we can be better.” This rang a bell with me. It reminded me of the lesson of the fallen that Lincoln took from Gettysburg—“that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.”...

Obama’s Finest Hour by Garry Wills | NYRBlog | The New York Review of Books

Can Obama Win Back His Base? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Politics is the art of the possible, so compromise is a must. For Obama the problem, surprisingly, is the vision thing. Not the vision of peace, the vision that goes beyond race and beyond national chauvinism; but the vision to persuade people that he has got the fire to claw back what we have lost in the years of conservative ascendancy - now that the right has got its mojo back.

This piece in the Times is worth a look.  It is comments by several observers.

Can Obama Win Back His Base? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Krugman: Freezing Out Hope - NYTimes.com

I don't want to give up on Barack Obama. I know that we lost this election - and that the voters are to blame for it.  So please somebody tell me why Krugman's harsh judgment is wrong!

Freezing Out Hope - NYTimes.com

I am not the only one asking this question, of course.  This post on TPM is the rare case where the comments are actually interesting and worth reading. - gwc

White House's Melody Barnes To Progressives: Don't Jump Off The Bridge! | TPMDC

Obama on Government Investment

I get pretty sick of hearing talk of cutting government spending.  A ride on a 300 mph train in Shanghai should cure you of that if nothing else will, so I was pleased to hear President Obama talking about such things today.

Pres. Obama:

I don't think we should be cutting back on research and development, because if we can develop new technologies in areas like clean energy, that could make all the difference in terms of job creation here at home.

I think the proposal that I've put forward with respect to infrastructure is one that historically we've had bipartisan agreement about. And we should be able to agree now that it makes no sense for China to have better rail systems than us and Singapore having better airports than us.

And we just learned that China now has the fastest supercomputer on Earth. That used to be us. They're making investments, because they know those investments will pay off over the long term.

And so in these budget discussions, the key is to be able to distinguish between stuff that isn't adding to our growth, isn't an investment in our future, and those things that are absolutely necessary for us to be able to increase job growth in the future as well.

Now, the single most important thing I think we need to do economically - and this is something that has to be done during the lame-duck session - is making sure that taxes don't go up on middle-class families next year. And so we've got some work to do on that front to make sure that, you know, families not only aren't seeing a higher tax burden, which will automatically happen if Congress doesn't act, but also making sure that business provisions that historically we have extended each year that, for example, provide tax breaks for companies that are investing here in the United States, in research and development - that those are extended.

I think it makes sense for us to extend unemployment insurance, because there are still a lot of folks out there hurting.

So there are some things that we can do right now that will help sustain the recovery and advance it, even as we're also sitting down and figuring out, OK, over the next several years, what kinds of budget cuts can we make that are intelligent, that are smart, that won't be undermining our recovery, but in fact will be encouraging job growth.

In favor of deficit spending

Lately I have spent a lot of time fighting despair at the prospect of the widely forecast rout of Democrats in the Congressional elections, and the "common sense" rants about government spending under Obama - as Republicans in Congress stood as the principal obstacle to spending the kind of money that might have jump-started growth.  Of course the big problem is that we don't have the Chinese Communist Party on our side.  They know how to do stimulus spending (40 high speed inter-city rail projects).  But that's for another day.

For today - thanks to Paul Krugman - here is the basic picture - spending continues in normal growth trendline but income has plummeted due to collapse in the private sector.  So - contrary to people like Niall Ferguson who say government stimulus will just lead people to buy gold and Chinese securities - it is clear that government spending is needed to create jobs - such as the (too small) $50b infrastructure program the Republicans refuse to support.  The short term deficit is now about $1.3 trillion.  That is why the Fed is printing money.  But if we really want to spur growth we have to make direct investments - such as Obama proposes.  We can if we let the Bush tax cuts above $250k expire - and use the revenue generated to put people to work.  VOTE DEMOCRATIC!

Gingrich: Muslim "triumphalism", slandering Obama, forgetting the past

When I lived in India forty years ago I often found myself reacting with habitual anger as I passed houses decorated with swastikas the way we use stars on festive occasions.  The swastika is an ancient Aryan symbol appropriated by European criminals - as the Islamic crescent and star is claimed by al-Qaida for its own "jihad".   Right-wing activists like  Human Events columnist Robert Spencer's blog Jihad Watch agree with al Qaida thus identifying all of Islam with the crimes of a few.   Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and history teacher, spoke in similar vein about the proposed mosque/Islamic Center in lower Manhattan and the President's admirable comments on religious freedom at the White House's traditional Ramadan dinner.  
According to news accounts of Gingrich's remarks:

"There is nothing surprising in the president's continued pandering to radical Islam," he said. "What he said last night is untrue and inaccurate. The fact is this is not about religious liberty."

Mr. Gingrich said the proposed mosque would be a symbol of Muslim "triumphalism" and that building the mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks "would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum."

"It's profoundly and terribly wrong," he said.

Speaking of triumphalism - at the center of the seal of Fordham University, where I teach, are a cross and the letters IHS.   They are the first letters of the Latin maxim In Hoc Signo Vinces "in this sign you will conquer".  The vision of soldiers advancing behind the cross came to Constantine in a dream before the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D.  Constantine triumphed in that civil war among rival Roman emperors.  Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire - thanks to the power of the sword.


Symbols are powerful in deed and in memory.  The crescent  and star, the star of David, and the Christian cross have each been wielded for deplorable  purposes.  A bit of humility is in order particularly for Christians.  We might reflect, for example,  on the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, or the Crusades. 

Obama "Now is the time to make a decision"

Concluding remarks:


So at stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem. 


The American people want to know if it's still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. 


They are waiting for us to act. They are waiting for us to lead. 


And as long as I hold this office, I intend to provide that leadership. I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it's right. 


And so I ask Congress to finish its work, and I look forward to signing this reform into law.