As a quick follow-up to my last post on Obama’s State of the Union address, I want to briefly talk about the Republican response to the President’s speech. I say briefly, because I couldn’t watch more than thirty seconds of it since it was clear that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s decision to give it in a bizarre rapid-fire, sing-song delivery was a cripplingly embarrassing one. However the transcript of his speech shows that the content was just as embarrassing – inherently flawed and politically deaf criticism of the stimulus package combined with a complete lack of alternative solutions. How very Republican… Excitable journalists like to talk up the thrilling prospect of a Obama v Jindal showdown (no doubt thinking about the endless “Black President vs Indian candidate: how historic!” articles they could reel off). Hopefully, then, his pathetic response to Obama’s stunning address will dampen the media frenzy around him. And if you believe that, then you’ll believe me when I say I’m off to sit in my solid gold chair and smoke some hundred pound notes. Being a billionaire is fun!
What was perhaps most shocking about Jindal’s response was the brazen insanity of it: in the midst of the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, with Republican stock still at an all-time low, their response is to stubbornly stick to the tired old mantra of “government is bad, tax cuts are good”. The craziness of such a strategy was perhaps best summed up by conservative commentator David Brooks, who eviscerated it in shockingly extreme language (for a Republican), calling it a “disaster”, “insane” and “a form of nihilism” . Watch it for yourself, it’s really quite damning:
Obama’s first State of the Union address was pretty accomplished. And I don’t say that to damn him with faint praise. I could go on about how it was an uplifting speech – and it was. I could go on about how steadfast Obama seemed in the face of economic crisis. And he did. And I could definitely go on about how deftly he mixed the substantive with the personal- the story about the guy who gave his bonus out to his employees was a nice touch, and if you didn’t get a lump in your throat at the mention of that young girl’s remarkable letter then you probably have a model number stamped somewhere on you. But, more than anything, it accomplished what Obama set out to do: that is, lay the groundwork for what is set to be the biggest program of reforms since the Great Society – or maybe even the New Deal. Not only did he put the finishing touches on his case for the recently passed economic stimulus, but he tackled all the big legislative issues ahead of him: the budget; the bank, housing market and auto bailouts; climate change; healthcare reform; education. In doing so he not only framed the debate to come, but deftly rebuffed the objections of the cynics before they’ve even had time to get going. So yeah, I could go on about how it was was uplifting and stirring. And it really was. But what this speech showed more than anything else is that Obama isn’t going to let anything get in the way of the huge, unprecedented reforms that are coming to America this year – he’s going to control the debate and not repeat the mistakes of the stimulus battle.
Here, then, are what I think were the top 10 key quotes from Obama’s State of the Union. These weren’t necessarily the most memorable or stirring of lines – for that, we have the endless analysis of cable tv – but the lines that I felt were most important, at least in terms of the battles to come. (You can read the transcript of the speech here)
