Dear America,
Like many others, I have been waiting for President Obama to rise above his native diffidence and take a pugilistic stance with regard to the Republican Party and his conservative adversaries, and last night, he did. I have been thinking that like Lyndon Johnson, he would give a state of the union address at the end of his term, perhaps just days before he left the White House or even on the eve of the election in which his successor will be chosen, to make sure that he left the American people with the truth on their minds rather than the bad taste of Republican propaganda in their mouths. But the speech he gave last night was the speech I would have anticipated for his swan song, and thus, it is possible that last night he did give his final state of the union, as it was characterized be the press, not his penultimate one, though now that his confrontational self has emerged, I still hope not. Much of what he said last night was provocative and confrontational, and he left no doubt that he will be speaking out loudly and often to challenge the false account of both the recent past and the present that is being foisted on the public by Republicans and conservatives today. No more cakewalks for the opposition. From now on, it will be all of the facts all of the time. This is what I foresee.
I don't recall the last time that President Obama held a press conference in the evening...after the news...rather than during the day by virtue of which all that makes it to American televisions is a few sound bites that seem the most titillating to our revered talking heads on the network evening news. My guess is that President Obama will begin having news conferences when everyone is home and watching rather than while all of you are at work. I think that what The President intends to do is to speak to us face to face, so to speak, rather than through intermediaries like ABC, CBS and CNN. When the networks broadcast press conferences, there is no dilution of the message that presidents are trying to give, and the people get the full effect of his competence and gravitas. Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy always seemed to be in control when they gave press conferences. They were in command of the facts and stated them with aplomb from under the mantle of their office. Barrack Obama, unlike either of the Bush presidents or Ronald Reagan, can do that. He has shown in interviews that he knows why he does the things he does and thinks the way he does, and as long as he has reasons that are viable, the American people can believe him. That is why Reagan, W and HW didn't face the press any more than they had to. None of them could get all the way through a sentence without the kind of stammer that made them look incompetent, devious, or just plain dumb.
As to public appearances, President Obama looks like a star when he does them, and so, I predict that we will see more footage of his visits to big automobile plants and the sites of major environmental or energy production facilities with him looking to be in charge, but down to earth...in shirt sleeves and strolling the grounds. There are times when it pays to look presidential; I heard someone say once when George W. Bush was reelected that he was used to presidents whom he thought to be smarter than he was and Bush was a departure in that respect. But sometimes it is most effective to leave smarts out of it and just appear concerned about all of our well-being the way the rest of us are about our children. That's another thing that Barrack Obama can do: look like just another American.
Finally, I think he will give another state of the union address, and it will be much like the one he gave last night. He will want to set the record, and the Republican Party, straight, and while the Republicans will get the chance to rebut, rebuttals always sound like they are delivered off the back foot...defensively or in retreat. The result will be that The President's message will go uncontested other than by broad generalizations and obviously partisan self-service. It will be his chance to push conservatism back and give progressiveness the chance it deserves starting in 2017. The legacy of this president may not be in what he has done. It may be in how he sets the stage for what will be done. The next president--and hopefully the next Democratic congress--will need a running start to get a single payer health care system passed, for example. They will need the kind of clarity in the American voter's mind that it will take to beat down conservative opposition. They will need a thorough under standing of how a $15 per hour minimum wage will be good for us all by virtue of the increased buying power of the working populace as a whole, which in turn raises GDP, but more importantly, job creation. And when the issues of tax reform and immigration get addressed, they will need public sentiment that is essentially a juggernaut if they are to do something responsible and humanistic. That is where President Obama's last state of the union address will come in. He can set the tone at the last moment available to him for the purpose of setting our direction as a nation...perhaps for a generation if the Democrats follow up by doing it right.
Outside of ending the filibuster, President Obama's ultimate state of the union address may be the most pressing matter on the Democratic agenda as the next elected president and congress are selected and take office. Let's hope that this President Obama...the feisty one...sticks around until then.
Your friend,
Mike
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