By Madhu Ramankutty
On Tuesday night, President Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union address. In the context of an increasingly polarized political climate, Americans eagerly anticipated the President’s remarks and vision for the nation—and the world. The speech turned out to be, as Press Secretary Jay Carney had explained, an “Act Two” or follow-up to Obama’s inauguration speech, in which he outlined his administration’s policy goals and objectives for the coming term. In the hour-long address, the president touched on a wide array of issues, including climate change, immigration reform, preschool education, the minimum wage, troops, terrorism, nuclear weapons, cyber-security, voting rights, guns, and the economy. But as much as the president attempted to cover a wide variety of topics from all ends of the spectrum, the economy and jobs were central, as highlighted by the two descriptive graphics published Wednesday morning by Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog:
In all, the speech did not seem to tell us anything new or surprising about the President’s agenda. But there were some gems that hinted at a fundamental shift in approach on Obama’s part— for example, inserting the now infamous “no matter who you love” phrase into his pitch for re-establishing the American Dream. And in arguing for a more efficient—not necessarily “bigger” government—the President seemed to finally engage with Republican criticisms of his economic proposals.
And while the address focused primarily on our economic problems, I hope that that the President continues to demonstrate passion for some of the other issues discussed, for example, by motivating Congress to pass (or at least vote on!) comprehensive gun control legislation. America’s problems are not only economic in nature—and finding ourselves on the path to prosperity once more requires that we address every issue brought forth Tuesday night.