"Obama to signal campaign themes tonight" by Tracy Jan | Globe Staff, January 24, 2012
WASHINGTON - Tonight’s State of the Union address gives the president a chance to steal the spotlight from the fractious Republicans and turn it toward his rallying call for economic and tax fairness. In doing so, Obama will seek to project his vision for government’s role in incubating a new prosperity for future generations.
The speech will also cement his reelection platform....
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"Obama speech to define activist government to advance fairness" by Jackie Calmes | New York Times, January 22, 2012
WASHINGTON - President Obama will use his election-year State of the Union address on Tuesday to define an activist role for government in promoting a prosperous and equitable society, hoping to draw a stark contrast between the parties in a time of deep economic uncertainty....
State of the Union as campaign pitch! My question: where you been for the last three years?
Obama will again propose changes to the tax code so the wealthy pay more, despite Republicans’ consistent opposition. It is a theme the White House hopes will hit a nerve with voters....
Oh, it's hit a nerve! Why didn't they rescind the Bush tax cuts when they had a super-majority rather than extending them -- which now means social services need to be cut.
With most Americans registering disapproval of his economic record after three years, it is all the more imperative for Obama to define the election not as a referendum on him but as a choice between his vision and the vision of his eventual Republican rival.
Advisers and people familiar with the speech say Obama will expand again on the administration’s effort to resolve the housing crisis with both carrots and sticks to lenders dealing with homeowners behind on their mortgage payments - after yet another debate between his economic and political advisers.
The political team has long argued that most Americans oppose bold government action to stem home foreclosures, like forcing lenders to reduce borrowers’ principal, seeing it as rewarding those who had bought houses they could not afford. The economic team holds that until the housing market recovers, the broader economy cannot - and that all Americans suffer.
On Tuesday, Obama will flesh out his populist message with new proposals to spur manufacturing, including tax breaks for companies that “insource’’ jobs back to the United States; to double down on clean-energy incentives; and to improve education and job training initiatives, especially for the millions of long-term unemployed, the officials familiar with the speech said.
Why do companies need a tax break to employ Americans and bring jobs back?
Related: Solar Stimuloot Went to Goldman Sachs
And he is going to double down?
Obama is expected to harden his challenge to China to increase its currency’s value for fairer trade - addressing the one area in which Romney, the Republican candidate whom the Obama team still views as the president’s likely challenger, has struck a more populist chord that appeals to working-class voters that Obama needs if he is to be reelected.
So BASHING CHINA is going to be a campaign theme?
And I'M SURE IRAN will receive a mention tonight!
In the video preview, Obama said he would call for “a return to American values of fairness for all and responsibility from all.’’
“We can go in two directions,’’ he said. “One is towards less opportunity and less fairness. Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few.’’
To that end, people familiar with his draft speech say, Obama will call for changing the corporate and individual income tax codes so the wealthy pay more, both to finance government investments and to alleviate the rise in income inequality in recent years. Obama will revive his call, made in September, to rewrite the individual code in a way that follows what he termed the “Buffett Rule’’ - making sure that, as the billionaire Warren Buffett has said, no secretary or other employee pays a higher effective tax rate than their better-paid bosses.
You guys had two years and all we got was a crappy corporate health plan with a tax attached to it.
His proposal takes on heightened political importance after Romney’s acknowledgement last week that he pays income taxes at about a 15 percent rate. That is a lower rate than most taxpayers pay, reflecting a tax break opened in the past decade by the Bush administration and a Republican-led Congress for taxpayers whose income relies on investments rather than wages.
Obama will also propose political changes, perhaps in campaign finance. Those would tap the sentiment of many Americans, expressed among both Tea Party and Occupy protesters on the political left and right, that the system is rigged against them and in favor of a privileged few.
And tonight's political pitch isn't going to change that impression.
Yet even if Congress went along, an unlikely prospect for much of the president’s agenda because Republicans’ opposition is expected to intensify in this election year, any changes would not affect this campaign season.
Just a lot of cheap hot air.
Already it has been influenced by independent super PACs of wealthy individuals, corporations, and unions unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling to spend unlimited sums on behalf of candidates....
No cheapness there, and it's appalling in the face of such suffering in AmeriKa.
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Why do I feel so slimy when I write about politics?
"Campaign battle looms on oil pipeline" by Kate Andersen Brower | Bloomberg News, January 20, 2012
WASHINGTON - President Obama’s rejection of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline permit exposed a split in a core Democratic constituency and handed Republicans a new line of election-year attack.
Unions representing construction workers condemned the move, while labor groups - including the United Steelworkers, the United Auto Workers, and the Service Employees International Union - joined with environmental advocates in saying they support Obama’s decision. It also triggered criticism from congressional Republicans and the party’s presidential candidates.
“The Republicans’ argument that he’s trying to run a populist campaign firing up the liberal base and that this is all politics at the expense of jobs is going to be an important continuing issue through much of the campaign,’’ said David Gergen, director of Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership and an adviser to presidents of both parties.
The jobs promised in the building of the Keystone pipeline were central to union support for the project originally, and the focus of GOP criticism of Obama.
Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, said that Obama’s decision shows “a lack of seriousness’’ about unemployment, economic growth, and US energy independence.
Another Republican contender, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, called it “a stunningly stupid thing to do.’’
The president blamed Republicans for forcing the action by setting a deadline as part a bill that temporarily extended a payroll tax cut.
Related: Tea Party Republicans Rolled Over Payroll Tax
Yeah, big win.
Obama in November had postponed a pipeline decision while the State Department reviewed a route that avoided a Nebraska aquifer that provides water for 1.5 million people.
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Related: Canadian oil pipeline will benefit China
What?
Update: Obama wants higher taxes on rich, incentives for jobs
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