Politics
State of The Union Address 2013: Obama to promote his agenda aggressively
The risk is he will alienate Republicans and accelerate gridlock. But Obama warned that voters won’t look kindly on a stalemate.
“The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem,” he argued. “They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party. They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all.”
Obama ridiculed Republican calls for cuts to spending on things like education, job training and Medicare and Social Security benefits to cut the deficit. “Deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan,” Obama said.
“Let’s set party interests aside and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future. And let’s do it without the brinksmanship that stresses consumers and scares off investors. The greatest nation on earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next,” Obama said to a sustained standing ovation from Democrats in the chamber while Republicans sat silent.
For now, Americans are far happier with Obama’s leadership than they are with Congress. A recent Associated Press-GfK poll found that 54 percent of registered voters approve of the job Obama is doing, compared with just 17 percent for Congress.
But that isn’t preventing Republicans from digging in their heels. House Speaker John Boehner told television correspondents and anchors Tuesday that immigration is about the only item on Obama’s list that has a chance of passing this year. He said the president is more interested in getting a Democratic majority in both chambers next year and he doesn’t believe Obama “has the guts” to take on liberals in his party over spending cuts.
Obama recognized that the divided Congress may not fall in line behind all his priorities, specifically mentioning climate change, but said he’d move forward with or without their support. “If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” Obama said. “I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
