It’s taken me a while to figure this out, but I think I’ve got it. I’ve tried hard not to believe it, but really, there’s no other explanation I can think of. It’s a simple one: there are two Barack Obamas.<\/p>\n
Most of the time, we see President Obama, who lacks a workable strategy and allows himself to be pushed around by both Republicans and Democrats. Once a year, though, the other Barack Obama \u2014 the one who campaigned for the presidency \u2014 is allowed out for an hour and gives a remarkably upbeat<\/span> speech that earns the respect of both parties. It’s uncanny<\/span>.<\/p>\n Tuesday’s address was one of Obama’s better speeches<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tuesday night’s State of the Union<\/span> (SOTU) address was one of his better speeches. Obama was relaxed, jovial<\/span> and happier than he’s seemed in years. He arrived with nothing but good news. Last year was “a breakthrough year”. The United States has been \u201cgrowing jobs at the fastest pace since 1999\u201d. The US unemployment rate is “lower than before the financial crisis”. The long, difficult period that began with 9\/11 is over<\/a>. “The shadow of crisis has passed and the state of the union is strong,” Obama said to rousing<\/span> applause from members of Congress of both parties.<\/p>\n By all objective measures, the news really was good, and this time, the speech<\/a> was free of the selective interpretations and weasel words employed in some of his previous SOTUs<\/a> to paint a rosier picture. From the standpoint of today, the Obama administration has indeed been successful on the economy, if not on some other issues.<\/p>\n