Expecting to deviate from the usual script to a joint session of Congress tonight, President Barack Obama wants tout his past accomplishments and look to the future. With Wall Street heading south, the president can only point to past accomplishments, especially economic recovery from the Great Recession of 2008-09. Bragging about a 5% unemployment rate and lower federal budget deficits, Obama hopes to make a sold case for continuity as Democratic front-runner former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton makes her case for the Oval Office. Obama’s legacy is exactly the opposite of what he promised running for president in 2008: A post-partisan presidency free of the divisive red-state, blue-state gulf that haunted his predecessor, George W. Bush. Shortly after taking office, Obama railroaded the Affordable Care Act in Congress, without one Republican vote.
When Barack signed the Affordable Care Act into law March 23, 2010 with no Republican support, he turned his presidency into the most contentious one in modern history, far worse than Bush-43. Letting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid set his agenda, Obama killed his opportunity to get beyond partisan politics. “You will be looking out over the room that is arguably as divided as it’s ever been,” said NBC’s Matt Lauer to Obama in a pre-speech interview. “Do you see that as a failure of your presidency?” asked Lauer. Taking little personal responsibility, Obama told Lauer he has “regret” but there have been divisions in the past. “It’s been pretty divided in the past. There have been times where people beat each other with canes,” Barack told Lauer, begging the question of whether he brought gridlock on Washington and himself.
Given the political battles during an election year, Obama hopes to make a case for Democratic continuity at the White House. Successful insurgent candidates, like real estate tycoon Donald Trump, indicate the public’s looking for a change in 2016. No matter how much the GOP and Democratic establishments have gone after Trump, he’s still leading national polls, looking poised for success in the nation’s caucuses and primaries. Both parties have branded Trump a racist for his tough stands on immigration but, more importantly, terrorism on American soil. Obama’s critics have urged him to develop a more refined counter-terrorism strategy that addresses the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. Obama can’t decide what to do with ISIS or who to back in Syria, only recently agreeing with Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in power.
Obama often blames the GOP Congress for its unwillingness to work and compromise on bipartisan legislation. When Barack signed Obamacare into law in 2010, there’s was no compromise with Republicans, causing the current rift that leaves the president a lame duck. Ruling by fiat with executive orders, on immigration and gun control, always rubs Congress the wrong way, hurting Hillary’s chances should she win the Democratic nomination. Obama wants to use his last State-of-the-Union to tout his accomplishments, hinting strongly that to maintain continuity voters need to vote Democratic. “We had things like the Civil War. There have been times where it was pretty rough. But there’s no doubt that politics in Washington are so much more divided than the American people are,” said Obama, refusing to admit he caused the mess by railroading Obamacare.
If the economy heads south in 2016, it will make Hillary’s sell all the more difficult. As it stands now, ruling by fiat, because he can’t get cooperation from Congress, makes the case against a Democratic president in 2016. Hillary already admitted Oct 13 in a CNN debate that Republicans were her “enemies.” Whether taken tongue-in-cheek or not, voters see the fundamental flaw of Hillary’s campaign: That she can’t rule by consensus on Capitol Hill. “We have a lot of good things going for us,” Obama told Lauer, hoping to itemize in tonight’s speech many of his accomplishments, especially on the economy. Wall Street’s 2016 sell-off, down some 10% since record highs in May 2015, could spell trouble for Democrats moving forward. Trump has expressed doubts about the economy’s strength to hold up under current economic and geopolitical uncertainties.
Expected to divert attention away from problems with his foreign and domestic policy, Obama won’t sell too many Republicans or, more importantly, independent voters bound to determine who goes to the White House. “After seven years of the Obama presidency, do you feel you’re responsible for a certain hunger out there for a message Donald Trump is putting out?” asked Lauer. “The message that Donald Trump’s putting out has had different adherents a lot of time during the course of our history,” said Barack, essentially calling Trump a racist. Forcing Obamacare on Republicans poisoned Barack’s relationship with House and Senate Republicans. His message tonight better resonate with independent voters or he’ll make things much worse for Hillary or anyone else. Frightening voters with his rule by fiat or executive orders makes a strong case against Democrats in 2016.
