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Subscribe to RSSObama to focus on the economy in State of the Union… A reminder: As the economy goes, so goes Obama (and his second-term agenda)… The speech, politically, also will be a way to frame the sequester debate… Rubio’s chance in the spotlight… And the danger for Hagel: having his confirmation vote linger.
As NBC's Tracie Potts reports, the president's State of the Union speech "will outline his plan to create jobs and grow the middle class by investing in people."
*** Focusing on the economy: President Obama’s inaugural address last month was billed as a call to action, as well as a not-so-subtle declaration that American politics had been transformed -- on the role of government, on gay rights, and on war. But tomorrow night’s State of the Union will have a slightly different focus, White House aides say, with Obama emphasizing the economy and revisiting the economic themes from his re-election campaign. The speech “will outline his plan to create jobs and grow the middle class by investing in people,” an administration official tells First Read, adding: “The president’s plan grows the economy from the middle out by investing in manufacturing, clean energy, education, and infrastructure.” Obama also will call on Congress to reduce the nation’s deficit and debt, including via entitlement reform, but he will say these cuts need to be balanced and not borne solely by the middle class. The White House always viewed his two big speeches in three weeks (the inaugural and State of the Union) as two bites at the bully-pulpit apple. And the same administration official calls the two speeches “two acts in the same play.” While the White House maintains they have been focused on the economy, tomorrow’s speech will put an end to the chatter (they hope) that they haven’t spent enough time TALKING about the economy.
Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
President Barack Obama speaks during an Armed Forces Farewell Tribute in honor of outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at Joint Base Myer-Henderson in Arlington, Va., Feb. 8, 2013.
*** A reminder: As the economy goes, so goes Obama (and his second-term agenda): Yet with Obama spending his political capital on his proposals to curb gun violence and reform the nation’s immigration system -- which he’ll also address on Tuesday -- reemphasizing the economy allows the president to return to the issue that remains the public’s top concern. After all, the unemployment rate, while down substantially from its high in 2009, is at 7.9%, and GDP contracted in the fourth quarter of 2012. And according to our national NBC/WSJ poll, only 36% of respondents said they were either “very” or “fairly” confident in Obama’s ability to promote a strong and growing economy. Remember, if the economy slows down, it makes it harder to get anything else done (like on guns or immigration).
*** Framing the sequester: Another way to look at Obama’s State of the Union is to frame the budget debate over the looming sequester -- that is, the automatic spending cuts (in defense and other programs) set to take place in March. As Politico writes, “President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech will be less a presidential olive branch than a congressional cattle prod. Emboldened by electoral victory and convinced the GOP is unwilling to cut deals, Obama plans to use his big prime-time address Tuesday night to issue another broad challenge at a Republican Party he regards as vulnerable and divided, Democrats close to Obama say.” More: “Privately, administration officials see [the speech] as an extension of Obama’s unabashedly provocative and progressive Jan. 21 inaugural address, their latest attempt to leverage favorable deals on the sequester and the debt ceiling comparable to the watershed deal Obama secured on increasing taxes on the wealthy. Obama now hopes to use his post-election popularity to force new tax increases and fewer budget cuts on Republicans as part of any deal to avert a $1.2 trillion menu of automatic cuts increasingly likely to kick in on March 1.” This won’t be as easy as the fiscal cliff because Obama has got to get Congress to pro-actively stop it. And right now, House Republicans seem nearly unified on the idea of letting the cuts happen.
*** Rubio’s chance in the spotlight: In addition to Obama, there’s another person who will be in the spotlight on Tuesday night -- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is giving the GOP response. This is a great opportunity for the potential 2016er. But as we noted last week, the State of the Union responder hasn’t been a great stepping stone for those looking to run for higher office. In fact, the last eventual party nominee to deliver the response was Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) in 1996. And the last person to deliver one and go on to be president was Bill Clinton in 1985 when he was governor of Arkansas.
*** Do you have to let it linger? Finally, while it remains pretty clear that Chuck Hagel still has the votes to be confirmed as the president’s defense secretary, any day that goes by when there’s not a vote isn’t a good day for him. That said, Politico reports that the Senate Armed Services Committee could vote on Hagel’s nomination as soon as Tuesday, “but Republican aides reacted to that idea by suggesting that some members could walk out in protest.” Democrats and the Obama White House, if they want him confirmed, can’t let his nomination linger.Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
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Should be a short speech then because 1) the economy sucks under his last 4 years of "leadership" and 2) because he knows nothing about economics
No worries for the President, because we all know it's still Bush's fault. Ha!
He knows a lot about Bull @!$%# though, so be prepared for a big bowl of that !!!
What was the dow and GDP when Obama took office, VS today? 6m jobs created in 4 years. more than under 8 years of GW.
Herron....Bull CACA.....there are fewer CITIZENS working now than the day Obozo took office. Where do you clowns get your info???
More lies, more broken promises, more bull@!$%# from his mouth and MORE TAXES OUT OF MY PAYCHECK for this man who doesn't have a damn spending problem. IDIOT!
Some script writer is gonna have to work really hard to make this quagmire look palatable to the American public. Most of us know we are screwed to the max and will watch this speach with a jar of vasoline in hand.
I have no desire to listen to his bull shi&. It's amazing that people will listen and believe his blaten lies and fairy tales. I guess he has promised extra minutes on their free cell phones if they tune in.
I will probably watch a documentary on Ancient Aliens or chasing sasquatch. There is about as much known fact in those programs as there will be in Obama's horse sheenga speech filled with the rhetoric his faithful sycophants find inspirational.
Ulysesses,
Come on man,don't knock Ancient Aliens!
Its been almost 5 yrs now and we still are in the toilet.... let a person with some experience run the country for a while and you and moochelle go on vacation for 3 yrs so we can get the country back.
We tried that already, vanjonesie. Getting someone in there who knew how to run a "business" and the people getting all the free stuff didn't like him, because they feared they'd have to go to work and support themselves. Most people said they didn't like Mr. Romney, but he knew how to turn the economy around, but NOOOOOOOOOOO. They wanted the same lackluster sucker that was screwing them from the beginning 4 yrs ago.
We also don't want him and his herd to go on vacation cause we know what it costs us each time they leave the white house! Way too much. I know people complain about the vacations that previous presidents took but they had their own homes/ranches to go to, not a fancy smancie hotel outside of the continental US (just so they'd have those memories and could brag about it). We just need them to to fall off the face of the earth somewhere, or go live in the middle east where they would "fit in" a little better.
Oblatherers' Focus entails the shortest attention span on ANYTHING ever witnessed in the Oval Office. Next week his FOCUS will return to "Where are we going on Vacation?", "Are we there yet?", " I'm bored.....time to go campaign to those leglickers out there who love me.", "Moochelle and Hillary, those slacks you are wearing make my azz look big."
Blah blah blah,tax the rich,pay their fair share,blah blah blah.
Obama will roll out his economic plan at the State of the Union.
Step # 1 Will be a call to Congress to create more revenue (that is liberal slang for raising taxes)
Step # 2 Will be a call to Congress to "invest" aka spend into the money pits of education, alternative energy, & regulation. (See step # 1 and you will see how he plans on paying for it).
Nothing new here folks. This will be just another liberal tax and spend economic plan.
I just cant wait for another lecture on wind energy!!!! I wish he would shove a windmill up his ass and just blow away!
Why do you think America has to be down sized?
ACHTUNG
UND DER FURER SPRECHEN..
Velcome Mein Peoples..
EVERYTHING Today ...
Es DAS GOOT.....In The UNITED SOCIALIST STATES..of AMERIKA...
Mein Message Today is...
"Und You Vil LISTEN To Me..And You Vil...LIKE IT..YA..!
"Compromise?,...Discussion..? Dumkoffs..Das Is..VERBOTTEN..!"
Mm, mmm, mm!
half black insane Obama
He will call the army on the phone
kill this bastard, send a drone
Mmm, mmm, mm!
half white insane Obama
He said we must kill him today
He has a round of golf to play
Mmm, mmm, mm!
half black insane Obama
He said to keep this short and sweet
He wants to do a bunch of skeet
Mmm, mmm, mm!
half white insane Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white
A drone don't care what's in it's sight's
Mmm, mmm, mm!
half black insane Obama
He's going to start a revolution
If he keeps trashing the constitution
half white insane Obama
Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
half black insane Obama
I won't bother watching along with many others! Every time you see his lips move, he's lying!! God Bless America if he can!!
It's funny how you say you won't bother watching JKelley, but you'll be here tomorrow morning bad mouthing the speech, "you didn't watch".
Any time that Democrats say "invest", they simply mean borrowing money we don't have and spending money that we don't have.
And of course somewhere in his "State of the Union" he'll attack Republicans for not kowtowing to his "social justice" ideology and demand that the so called "rich" pay more, in the name of "fairness" of course.
Anytime tea people republicans say "tax cuts", they simply mean spending money we don't have on tax cuts for the rich and then borrow the money to pay for their tax cuts, like Bush II and Reagan did, in the name of "job creators" of course.
The Leftist Pig Leader has had four years to frame this speech as "for the economy" - he's done everything else - exploited every crisis to advance his leftist pig agenda.
And now he wants to focus on the economy? LOL!
What he will do is to try to pin the sequester on Republicans even though this whole thing originated from HIS OFFICE! The sequester mess is all Obama's fault! His office drafted the legislation and offered it because he is wholly unable to negotiate in good faith.
This SOU speech will also be about stealing guns from Americans - make no mistake - the leftist pigs don't want to control guns - they want to seize them! And we just found out today that over a dozen gun violence victims will be used as human props for this miscreant's speech! No car accident victims - no knife attack victims - no strangulation victims - just gun violence victims. Yeah, there is a reason why leftist pigs want to seize guns because they know that leftist regimes end in violence!
I can't wait to miss this. Soon after the emperor's speech there will be accolades here by the lemming Left aggrandizing the royal liar. When the chills in your extremities pass and you change your messy pants, will anything have changed?
Just the thought of a SOTU has the tea people republicans all up in arms. What will they be like Wednesday morning? Like I said earlier, the tea people republicans are a funny joke.
No, the funny joke is all the lemmings that re-elected this feckless president.
Problem is..........no one is laughing.
Mo
It really means a lot coming from you.
Mo..obviously you don't read very well.....I don't think anyone on this thread gives a fat rats' azz about this clowns' SOTU adress except you lemmings. And of course we KNOW that Lemmings thrive on the great Dear Leaders' useless meaningless words of drivel and ignorance. I bet you will spend most of your time watching Obozo rant on thumping your dummy and licking the TV screen. ROFLMFAO.
Hey Mo, you probably dont word so you depend on entitlements to fund your lifestyle! get a job and get off the bong! Maroon
p.s. good morning Obamanation, Ulysses!
@mo--- No, we are just tired of STUPID, as in dumb begets dumber. Sums you Libs up to a tee. Golf anyone.
Morning bolt.
More shovel ready Jobs, Obama?????
The Obamination of America continues...
You don't go along with Ignorance (Obama World) , you educate and Defeat it....
Well,the left loons are at it again.! Obama is the cause of all the bad things that happened the past 4 yrs.his Obamacare is laughable like him. The next 4 will be not better because loser don't know how to do things right.
And by the way Rubio doesn't need a push from this so called state of the reck speech that Obama is going to make.Thank God Obama is gone in 2016.
marye.gilbert: don't count your dog and pony shows before they happen (regarding "gone in 2016"). I don't think we have seen the last of this loon, Odumbo. He's working on getting things quelched so he can make a third run and become the dick in chief of the USAA.
It just drives the Teabaggers right up the wall that Obama has turned our economy around in four years and pulled us out of the Bush depression. Amazing. There is more work to do.
The anesthesia...from your Proctologist..Not worn off yet..?
you really need to start looking at some numbers... and if the math is too hard for you, ask some 5th graders. Things in this country have not turned around... Not yet anyway..
Turned around our economy? Is that why they were reporting we may soon have a negative GDP? That they may have another credit downgrade?
Oh, and just wait......Oblahblahcare isn't in effect yet. Wait until businesses start dropping healthcare coverage and force you on to the state exchange, or better yet, just cut your hours.
Yeah.............he's amazing all right.
He must have received his welfare check, and food stamps. For him, I guess the economy is doing great!
6 million jobs over the past 4 years. 3.5 million jobs estimated for 2013. Boo Yah. Alibaba - you should get your head out of your azzz.
markinheckler, what about the millions of out of work people that just gave up looking for jobs? and what kind of jobs are we talking about here? get your facts straight maroon!
mark....how many more times do you intend to trot out your baseless and totally unfounded INACCURATE numbers on Employment during Obrainless' time in the Oval Office?? You KNOW that the actual employment levels show FEWER CITIZENS working NOW than the day this clown took office. The only sector where Employment improved for awhile was the ILLEGAL ALIENS, who reportedly have given up on the U.S. Economy and headed back to Mexico in somewhat large numbers. Not fast enough, however!! That FACT ALONE makes your statement seem like puppy chow drivel from a liberal idiotic lemming. BTW, your cliff awaits your ignorant azz.
If I'm not mistaken, the GOP already agreed to the Obama side of the financial fix-up? Now that taxes have been raised for the upper classes, we were supposed to see cuts from him to round out the budget... but the deadline for this was a couple weeks ago... He's just now focusing on it? Concentrating on gun issues was really more important than watching the entire country financially continue to sink?
Well, I guess The Cat is 'outa The Bag...?
Chairman MEOW...
OBAMA FLUSHES BILLIONS OF TAX PAYER’S MONEY DOWN THE CRAPPER AND TO HIS CRONIES
OBAMA PICKS LOSERS......RIGHT ON, ROMNEY
Solar Trust of America: FAIL! - Filed Bankruptcy in Oakland, CA, April 3, 2012
Bright Source: FAIL! - Bright Source warned Obama’s Energy Department officials in March 2011 that delays in approving a $1.6 billion U.S. loan guarantee would embarrass the White House and force the solar-energy company to close. Bright Source lost billions of dollars but is getting more money to keep trying. Can you say, “This isn’t working Mr. President?”
Solyndra: FAIL! - Obama gave $500,000,000 (that’s a HALF BILLION!) in taxpayer money to Solyndra who shut its doors and laid off 1100 workers in August 2011 after obama threw that taxpayer money down the drain of unproven technology.
LSP Energy: FAIL! - LSPEnergy LP filed bankruptcy protection and a sale of its assets in Feb 2012
Energy Conversion Devices: FAIL! – On February 14, 2012 Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy
Abound Solar: FAIL! - Abound Solar received a $400 million loan guarantee from Barack Obama then announced in June, 2012 that it would file for bankruptcy. Many of these failed corporations, such as Abound, donated MILLIONS and continue to donate to Barack Obama’s campaign. Can you say, “Democrat Slush Fund”? Yes this is illegal. But Democrats are being protected from being prosecuted, for now.
SunPower: FAIL! - SunPower stopped producing solar cells in 2011 at near bankruptcy then restructured with the help of, get this, oil giant TOTAL, Inc. who owns 60% stake in SunPower. Irony? The company is still struggling.
Beacon Power: FAIL! – Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy protection in October, 2011 just a year after Obama approved a $43 million Government loan guarantee. They remain barely in business, still struggling to make energy that makes sense or that works at all.
Ecotality: FAIL! - ECOtality, a San Francisco green-tech company that never earned any money and remains on the verge of bankruptcy after receiving roughly $115 million in two loan guarantees from President Obama, who wants to do some more of this kind of Democrat Slush Fund Guarantees after he is elected to a 2nd term.
A123 Solar: FAIL! - A123 Solar received $279 million from taxpayers thanks to President Obama’s Department of Energy loan guarantees even after the Solyndra bankruptcy and is getting another $500M from Obama after a loss of $400M.
UniSolar: FAIL! - Uni-Solar filed for Ch 11 bankruptcy in June 20, 2012 after laying off hundreds of workers. UniSolar received even more Obama money after showing now progress, no profits and is still failing… yet they still remain in business with Obama’s help.
Azure Dynamics: FAIL! - Azure Dynamics filed for bankruptcy in June , 2012 wasting millions in Obama “Stimulus” money and received abatement on taxes owed and and several tax credits. Azure Dynamics LLC filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the US. Azure laid off 120 of its 160 employees in Oak Park; Boston; Vancouver, British Columbia; and the UK.
Evergreen Solar: FAIL! - Evergreen Solar received $527 Million in Taxpayer money from Obama and filed bankruptcy in late 2011. Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer- supported
Devens factory in March, 2011 cut more than 1800 jobs. Evergreen’s $450 million factory, turned out to be a colossal “waste” of taxpayer money.
Ener1: FAIL! Ener1 Inc. received a $118 million U.S. Energy Department grant from President Obama to make electric-car batteries but filed for bankruptcy protection January 2012 after defaulting on bond debt.
You don't go along with Ignorance (Obama World) , you educate and Defeat it....
You obviously got clobbered so defeating it isnt an option.
Support is what you need to do and stop with the nonsensical Right Wing talking points.
What we need to do is look into the massive voter fraud in key states... where more Dems voted than there were registered voters... clobbered by voter fraud you mean....
Support what? Ignorance?
Truth getting ya johnny? Always seems to upset the left.
@Johnny, It's your tax dollar at work to nitwit, get the drift yet? Great post JBLAST.
Mr. President thank you for providing weapons to the Brotherhood so they can smile down upon us with their 21 virgins making America the new partner in terrorism.
I hope the Congress gets it done. Nothing simple about this as each has its own way of doing things. When Wilson pushed the League of Nations along with the Armistice agreement the Senate wanted them separated. Wilson would not let that happen and lost his push of that in 1920. Obama should take what he gets. On immigration.... the Republicans will give it to the kids. so take it! Don't think the Adults will be deported. This is something. Kennedy remarked before his death that he had Health Care agreed to but wanted it all and was not able to get it from Nixon. Point here is get something to keep the Economy going and maybe some cuts. The cuts will probable go into effect and we will see where we go. The gun stuff is dead on arrival. I did support gun Control but don't now. If more people were able to carry concealed weapons the Bad guys may not kill so many good people. I do support the background checks though as the NRA should. What the hell is wrong with a check in 2 minutes. The NRA wants the gun shows to be able to provide guns to the bad guys!
I think that I'll be watching something more inspiring. Like a Honey Boo Boo re run.
LMAO Blamo
Honey Boo Boo may be a little above your head. Maybe read Dick and Jane.