{"id":218,"date":"2014-01-30T11:21:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T09:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=218"},"modified":"2015-04-27T20:55:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T18:55:57","slug":"the-state-of-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/the-state-of-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"The state of Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you watched Barack Obama&#8217;s State of the Union (SOTU) speech Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Europe), you learned some surprising things. According to Obama:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lots of people are getting jobs in America.<\/li>\n<li>Millions of Americans have signed up to get health care.<\/li>\n<li>The United States no longer depends significantly on foreign oil.<\/li>\n<li>The US government is doing something about climate change.<\/li>\n<li>Relations with Europe have never been better.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These statements, worded carefully in the speech and <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c63f0f\">paraphrased<\/span> here, are true in certain ways and in certain <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c642f4\">contexts<\/span>. However, in order to paint such a rosy picture, they make use of very selective information.<\/p>\n<p>For example, most of the millions who signed up for health care signed up through an existing program. Many of the rest signed up for the government&#8217;s new program, popularly known as Obamacare, because their old <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c64ac5\">policies<\/span> were canceled under the new, stricter standards, or because the law required them to.<\/p>\n<p>The <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c64ead\">overall<\/span> message is correct, however \u2014 that the economy is improving, the government is spending not quite as much money, more energy is being produced locally and so on. Seven years into the Second <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c65292\">Great Depression<\/span>, things are finally looking up. Prosperity is just around the corner, and Americans can be optimistic again.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/arhBRouSmWs?feature=player_embedded\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Crucial points<\/h2>\n<p>It was <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c65a63\">crucial<\/span> for Obama to make this point, because the last year was really a disaster for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 2013 was the first year of Obama&#8217;s second <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c65e4e\">term<\/span> as president. As usually happens, a lot of key individuals retired and a lot of replacements had to be nominated by the president and confirmed by Congress. Congress, however, delayed many of the nominations for months.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 A lot of effort spent trying to change America&#8217;s gun laws after the <a title=\"This is not news (Mike Pilewski)\" href=\"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/this-is-not-news\/\">mass murder in Newtown, Connecticut<\/a>, in December 2012 got no results whatsoever.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Unable to get Congress to cooperate on anything of significance, Obama \u2014 like his <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c66233\">predecessors<\/span> \u2014 issued numerous presidential <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c6661c\">directives<\/span> in order to work around the Congress. He said in the SOTU that he&#8217;d do more of this, as he sees such action as an effort to get things done. His <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c66a03\">adversaries<\/span> portray it as <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c66ded\">undermining<\/span> the power of the Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Information about secret US <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c671d3\">surveillance<\/span> programs, made public by <a title=\"The Snowden paradox (Mike Pilewski)\" href=\"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/the-snowden-paradox\/\">Edward Snowden<\/a>, <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c675bc\">embarrassed<\/span> Obama&#8217;s government, caused its <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c679a4\">allies<\/span> to mistrust the United States, <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c67d8c\">riled<\/span> many of its citizens and forced <a title=\"The new Stasi? (Mike Pilewski)\" href=\"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/the-new-stasi\/\">months-long investigations<\/a> by both Congress and the White House. The <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c68174\">consensus<\/span> at the end was that the Obama administration had been even more <span id=\"tooltip551bb83c6855f\">secretive<\/span> and authoritarian than the George W. Bush administration, and that reform is necessary.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Obama and his <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2eafb5\">secretary of state<\/span>, John Kerry, were all set to <a title=\"Syria: the unanswered questions (Mike Pilewski)\" href=\"\/blog\/syria-the-unanswered-questions\" target=\"_blank\">go to war in Syria<\/a> until Kerry&#8217;s <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2eb39b\">unscripted<\/span> response to an unexpected question gave Russia a way to propose peace. Those who have been saying that Obama&#8217;s entire <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2eb784\">foreign policy<\/span> is <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ebb6a\">misguided<\/span> and chaotic felt <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ebf52\">vindicated<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Obama&#8217;s one major <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ec33b\">accomplishment<\/span> has been the <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ec721\">Affordable Care Act<\/span> (&#8220;Obamacare&#8221;) \u2014 but when the time came for the millions of <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ecb0b\">uninsured<\/span> to sign up, the website didn&#8217;t work properly. During the months it took to <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ecef2\">sort this out<\/span>, the Obama administration loosened requirements and extended <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ed2dc\">deadlines<\/span>, looking autocratic and unprofessional the whole time.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Congress has not <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ed6c1\">passed<\/span> a single budget that Obama has sent it during his entire presidency. The two-week <a title=\"No Grand Canyon for you! (Mike Pilewski)\" href=\"\/blog\/no-grand-canyon-for-you\" target=\"_blank\">partial shutdown of federal government services<\/a> last <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2edaab\">fall<\/span>, done in protest of Obamacare, <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ede90\">backfired on<\/span> the Republicans, but again it created the impression that the <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ee27b\">inmates<\/span> were loose at the <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ee662\">asylum<\/span> and that no one was really running things.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 A <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2eea49\">lengthy<\/span> investigation into the <a title=\"The brave job of the ambassador (Mike Pilewski)\" href=\"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/the-brave-job-of-the-ambassador\/\">murder of four American <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2eee33\">embassy<\/span> staff<\/a> in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, recently concluded that the US should have known it was too risky to operate an embassy there. Republicans have been trying for over a year to turn this example of bad judgment into a major scandal.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, 43 percent of Americans <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ef21b\">approve<\/span> of the way Obama is doing his job. Fifty percent disapprove.<\/p>\n<h2>The response<\/h2>\n<p>Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington state gave the 10-minute Republican response to the president&#8217;s hour-long speech. Instead of offering a <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ef602\">rebuttal<\/span>, she talked in general terms about working to increase opportunity, fairness, dignity, education, and employment, and to <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2ef9ed\">enact<\/span> immigration reform.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"nyt_video_player\" title=\"New York Times Video - Embed Player\" src=\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/bcvideo\/1.0\/iframe\/embed.html?videoId=100000002676770&amp;playerType=embed\" width=\"420\" height=\"373\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Certain of her details <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2efdd4\">warrant<\/span> some correction. The government does not make health-care choices for individuals; government spending has not hurt people; and Obama lowered taxes, not raised them, on all <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2f01b9\">but<\/span> the richest Americans.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, though, Rodgers&#8217; speech was remarkable for its positive tone, for example in talking about her son, Cole, who has Down&#8217;s syndrome. &#8220;The doctors &#8230; told us all the problems. &#8230; We saw only possibilities.&#8221; The boy, she says, is a <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2f05a3\">terrific<\/span> brother to his older sisters, and reads better than other children his age. &#8220;We see all the things he can do, not those he can&#8217;t.&#8221; <span id=\"tooltip551bb8c2f098b\">By analogy<\/span>, she said, we must all try to look on the bright side and work toward solutions.<\/p>\n<p>This message of optimism, of trying to make the country a better place for ordinary people, was not very different from Obama&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>This spring, candidates will start preparing for the next Congressional election. When that date comes in November, we&#8217;ll know which side&#8217;s optimism carried the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you watched Barack Obama&#8217;s State of the Union (SOTU) speech Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Europe), you learned some surprising things. According to Obama: Lots of people are getting jobs in America. Millions of Americans have signed up to get health care. The United States no longer depends significantly on foreign oil. The US government is doing something about <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/the-state-of-obama\/\">&#8230; >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[27,29,107,226],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}