STATE OF THE UNION 'We Don't Quit' Last night, in his first State of the Union address, President Obama recommitted his administration to economic recovery and job creation. "We don't quit. I don't quit. Let's seize this moment, to start anew...and to strengthen our union once more," he said. The Washington Post observed that "Obama did not use the occasion to build momentum for far-reaching new policies, instead calling for Congress to complete the tasks already at hand, including 'another look' at health-care reform, funding more education programs, imposing stiffer regulations on Wall Street and pursuing a more ambitious energy policy." The President acknowledged that "our administration has had some political setbacks this year" but vowed not to "give up on trying to change the tone of our politics." "I know it's an election year," he said. "And after last week, it's clear that campaign fever has come even earlier than usual. But we still need to govern." A large proportion of viewers approved of the President's message. According to a CBS News Poll conducted online immediately after the President's address, "83 percent said they approved of the proposals the President made" and just "17 percent disapproved." Obama also urged Democrats to stiffen their spines and called on Republicans to offer new ideas rather than simply oppose his proposals. "The only reason we are [here today] is because generations of Americans were unafraid to do what was hard; to do what was needed even when success was uncertain; to do what it took to keep the dream of this nation alive for their children and grandchildren," Obama said. As the New York Times observed, "It was a relief to see him challenge the Senate's Republicans for their obstruction and his party for tending to 'run for the hills' rather than wield the power of its majority."
FOCUS ON ECONOMY: Obama defended the success of the Recovery Act and explained that "because of the steps we took, there are about two million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed." He argued that the stimulus bill stabilized the financial system and cut taxes "for 95% of working families." "As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend on gas, and food, and other necessities, all of which helped businesses keep more workers." Moving forward, Obama pledged that "jobs must be our number one focus in 2010" and called "for a new jobs bill." The President proposed investing $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid "to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat," suggested eliminating capital gains taxes on small business investment, and offered "a tax incentive for all businesses large and small to invest in new plants and equipment." Obama reiterated his pledge to lower the deficit by instituting a spending freeze for "non-security" discretionary spending at the fiscal year 2011 level for fiscal years 2012 and 2013. The freeze is designed to save $250 billion over 10 years, and will unwisely "exempt security-related budgets" and entitlement programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Obama also promised to issue an executive order establishing a bipartisan Fiscal Commission and called on the Senate to "restore the pay-as-you go law that was a big reason why we had record surpluses in the 1990s."
EDUCATION INITIATIVES: Obama touted the importance of education, proposing a $10,000 higher-education tax credit for families and debt forgiveness for students repaying their college loans. "In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education," Obama said. "In this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than their potential." Obama urged the Senate to "follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges," pledged to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, and expand his successful Race To The Top program. "The plan to provide federal college loans directly was approved by the House in September and it aims to protect student loans from turmoil in financial markets and end federal payments that Obama says are wasteful." The program would "discontinue the 43-year-old Federal Family Education Loan Program that subsidizes and guarantees loans made by private lenders." "Let's tell another 1 million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only 10 percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after 20 years -- and forgiven after 10 years if they choose a career in public service," Obama said.
TURNING THE TEMPERATURE DOWN ON HEALTH CARE: Obama reiterated his call for comprehensive health care reform and urged both parties to "find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people." "To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills," Obama said. "And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town. ... Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership." Obama challenged members from either party to find "a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses," but did not explicitly lay out a roadmap for passing the legislation or promise to sign a comprehensive health care reform bill before the end of the year. Earlier that day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) hinted that the House may be able to pass the Senate health care bill. "What I'm saying to you is the Senate bill, stand-alone, I don't see any chance of it [passing the House]," she said. "Reconciliation resolving some of the issues: then we can pass this thing."
REPEALING 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL': "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are -- it's the right thing to do," Obama promised last night. "In the end, it is our ideals, our values, that build America - values that allowed us to forge a nation made up of immigrants from every corner of the globe; values that drive our citizens still," he added. Prominent progressive blogger John Aravosis praised Obama's strong language: "[I]f he says he's going to work with congress and the military to repeal DADT this year, I say we take him at his word, offer to help, and by time Congress goes out of session this year, probably by early October since the elections are in November, we'd better have a repeal just as the President promised. ... Now he's on the clock. And a good first way to show he means it is for the President to include DADT repeal in his budget next week." Since 1994, Don't Ask, Don't Tell has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,000 military personnel across the armed services and cost the nation at least $190.5 million over 10 years.
ECONOMY -- OREGON VOTERS APPROVE TAX INCREASE ON CORPORATIONS AND THE WEALTHY TO PAY FOR BUDGET SHORTFALLS: Oregon is one of many U.S. states currently facing a budget crisis. With a projected shortfall of $2.5 billion between 2009 and 2011, the state is on the verge of having to freeze salaries for public employees, end forest protection rules, and make deep cuts to education spending. However, Oregon progressives took action. Noting that their state has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the nation -- the corporate minimum income tax is a paltry $10 a year -- and that Oregon's wealthy have benefited enormously from years of conservative policies, activists -- led by teachers and public employees' unions -- organized around two ballot initiatives that would raise taxes on the upper-income tax bracket and corporations in order to close the budget gap. And this week, Oregon voters "handily" passed both measures. "It's not that it was targeted at the rich," said Charles Sheketoff, executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy one of the groups that pushed for the tax increases. "It was targeted at the right people, those with the ability to pay. It made the system more progressive." The result will secure $1 billion in funding for services while not raising taxes on 97.5 percent of taxpayers in Oregon and 93 percent of small business owners. "This wasn't about trying to soak the rich. This was about trying to protect the middle class. And it is the case that you have to ask those who can afford to, to pay a little more in order to do that," said Kevin Looper, director of the Vote Yes campaign in support the ballot measures. Oregon is not the only state that has rejected the right wing's anti-tax philosophy. Twenty-nine states have "passed tax and fee increases totaling $24 billion this budget year, according to the National Governors Association, up from $1.5 billion a year earlier."
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A CBS instant poll after last night's speech found that 83 percent of speech watchers liked President Obama's proposals and 70 percent said Obama shares their priorities for the country, up from 57 percent before the speech. Forty-eight percent of speech watchers in a CNN poll had a very positive response to the speech while 30 percent had a somewhat positive response. Republicans held their applause last night when President Obama declared that if bailed-out banks "can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need." "Of course, everybody hates the bankers, except the Republicans who sat on their hands when the president called for taxing them," writes the New York Times' Gail Collins. Republican state party chairs unanimously voted to kill a "purity test" that would have denied funding candidates who do not uphold right-wing conservative values. The vote is not binding, and the Republican National Committee will take it up on Friday. Chairman Michael Steele opposes the measure, saying, "Ronald Reagan would be ashamed if the party moved in that direction." Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner defended the government's rescue of AIG at a congressional hearing yesterday. Democrats and Republicans alike "pummeled Geithner" for his role in the bailout, but he delivered a "passionate" defense of himself and the action, saying it was necessary to save the financial sector. According to a new National Wildlife Federation report, this winter's extreme weather -- with heavy snowfall and low temperatures -- is a sign of how climate change disrupts long-standing patterns. "It's very hard for any of us to grasp how this larger warming trend is happening when we're still having wintry weather," said National Wildlife Federation climate scientist Amanda Staudt.
White House climate adviser Carol Browner told an audience at a climate and energy forum that the White House is not backing off of its support for a robust climate change bill, although she did not specify a time frame for passage. "I think predictions about when something is going to happen in the legislative process are very, very hard to make; you have to just continue working at it," she said. "Hackers appear to have infiltrated the Web sites of more than 20 House members overnight, replacing their usual pages with attacks on President Barack Obama." The home page of one member read: "F-- - OBAMA!! Red Eye CREW !!!!! O RESTO E HACKER !!! by HADES; m4V3RiCk; T4ph0d4 -- FROM BRASIL." The leaders of one of the largest Pashtun tribes in a Taliban stronghold said they have agreed to support the Afghan government, fight insurgents, and attack any Afghan home that harbors Taliban guerrillas. In exchange, U.S. commanders "agreed to channel $1 million in development projects directly to the tribal leaders and bypass the local Afghan government, which is widely seen as corrupt." The famed progressive historian and author of A People's History of The United States, Howard Zinn, passed away last night, at the age of 87. "He's made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture," MIT linguist and activist Noam Chomsky told the Boston Globe. "He's changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way." And finally: Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) may be one of the most conservative members of the House, but that didn't stop her from making sure she talked to President Obama at the State of the Union address yesterday. Schmidt "had him sign the State of the Union program" and "chatted" with him about a federal loan guarantee for a uranium-enrichment plant in Ohio. |
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"[Obama] re-pitched the health bill now in Congress with the same contradiction -- covers more people but saves money too -- that all but the most devoted partisans long ago dismissed as unbelievable."
-- Wall Street Journal editorial, 1/28/10
VERSUS
"CBO and JCT estimate that the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act incorporating the manager's amendment would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the 2010-2019 period."
-- The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, 12/19/09
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