The Story

The State of the Union: As Expected

Feb. 6, 2011 | By Sharon Hartzell, DSJ Staff Columnist

Even those who criticize Barack Obama’s failures and flaws as a president must admit that he is skilled, at the very least, at oration. This year’s State of the Union address was no exception. The promises he made were vague enough to be left safely unachieved; the speech was supremely ambitious, with numerous references to �"winning the future;” and it was well stocked with references to hope, progress and ordinary Americans �"doing big things.”

Obama expressed hope for a swift economic recovery, and a commitment to creating American jobs. He stressed our need to encourage innovation and education to compete globally with other developed nations, emphasizing the importance of green jobs and technology. He reinforced his dedication to the health care bill, committed to bringing our troops home from Iraq and proposed a freeze on annual domestic spending for the next five years.

Two themes dominated the speech: competition with the rest of the world and cooperation within our own borders. Obama focused on our common hopes and dreams, and reminded us we are all part of an �"American Family.” The speech was saturated with the hope that we could work through our differences and accomplish something, together. Yet as inspiring as the speech was in and of itself, its context rendered its hopes hopeless.

The Republican and Tea Party responses to the speech encapsulate the obstacles Obama, and our nation as a whole, will face in the coming year. No matter what the President proposes, it will be met with both support and with criticism, but also with blatant rejection by conservative opponents who seem intent on foiling whatever plans are proposed by the Democratic party, no matter how much potential they might have.

I’m tired of the Republican Party and its Tea Party offshoot. I’m tired of them carping about universal health care as if it were the death knell of the American economy and a herald of the Marxist fate which lurks just around the corner from democracy. The bill is not perfect; Obama admitted this in his speech, with a touch of humor, and invited solutions from supporters and critics alike. However, most Republicans and Tea Partiers want no part of improving the imperfect bill. They have dedicated themselves solely to its destruction, not least because it is Democratic.

I’m tired of their contention that fewer government regulations will help to revive our economy. This theory is a tough sell, considering the crisis’s cause – namely, the risky behavior and unabashed greed of the very corporations that would be enabled and favored by decreased regulations. Equally absurd are their claims that Obama and the Democratic Party are willfully ignoring financial issues. In doing so, they have merely excused themselves from constructive discussions regarding the economy by denying that they are taking place.

Most of all, I am tired of their continuous rejection of constructive behavior. I am not one to reject conservative viewpoints offhand, and neither do I glorify the Democratic Party. I appreciate the values of a multiple-party system, but it is becoming clearer and clearer that the conservative faction of our country has run out of ideas – that they have nothing left to say but �"no.” Ideally, conservative politicians should work to temper the idealistic and sometimes impractical goals of a progressive administration. Instead, most of them have joined to form a collective roadblock that stymies the progress and innovation we so desperately need.

Obama’s message of cooperation, his assertion that we are �"all in this together,” is lost in the face of conservative hostility to progress. The oft-idealized �"bipartisan solution” remains a joke. This year, our government will proceed as usual: the Democratic Party will offer their imperfect but improvable ideas, and the Republicans and Tea Partiers will reject them offhand for the sake of having something to say, to keep up appearances that they are still sentient and to hide their growing impotence.

This year’s State of the Union was exactly what I expected. Obama’s words ring eternally hopeful in the face of opponents who, despite having a firm grasp on polite laughter and proper formal dress, seem to have missed the more important childhood lessons of cooperation.

Sharon Hartzell is a staff columnist for the DSJ. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.