President Trump did a good job delivering the State of the Union (SotU) last night.\u00a0 He appeared to stay on message, followed the script, and other than few excessive gestures seemed more like a leader than at any time in his presidency.\u00a0 The team that drafted the speech created an overall good speech that appealed to a center-right audience rather than the usual right-wing Breitbart and nativist audience.\u00a0 This could be the first sign of the administration trying to expand its base.\u00a0 I have watched every SotU for almost 45 years and written about them since the Reagan years.\u00a0 While this was not among the most memorable, we will soon see what impact it has.\u00a0 To be clear, I am not sold that tis is the start of a new Trump chapter.\u00a0 However, we will soon see whether the speech changes anything.\u00a0 At a minimum, we have a glimpse into the President\u2019s stated \u00a0priorities for this year.<\/p>\n
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The speech was shy on specifics, but that is fairly common with the SotU.\u00a0 Most presidents begin with some cheerleading for the past year and then try and lay out a general agenda for the coming year.\u00a0 This is rarely the time for detailed explanation of the legislative initiatives and negotiations.\u00a0 Presidents cajole members of both parties to come together for the greater good to achieve success for the nation, especially concerning issues where there is a basis for cooperation.\u00a0 This could prove to be a critical development if the result is a sincere effort.\u00a0 For the past year, Democrats have focused on their role as the opposition and Republicans have not allowed Democrats to play any role or have any say in the agenda for either chamber.\u00a0 For the good of the nation, let\u2019s hope this year produces coordination and compromise on major legislation.\u00a0 Compromise is required to govern and was anticipated in the Constitution.\u00a0 Hard line intransigence works against the interests of the nation.<\/p>\n
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The speech had moments of unity where everyone stood and applauded.\u00a0 These were issues surrounding the military, veterans, and the special guests in the gallery being recognized.\u00a0 Some pundits criticized the Democrats for not standing more frequently, specifically for some of the positive economic news.\u00a0 It is true that President Trump was taking credit for trends that were legacies of President Obama, but that is how presidential economics works.\u00a0 It is okay to acknowledge positive news and fight over the credit later.\u00a0 Although it is easier to demonstrate unity on national security issues, some of the focus on North Korea was odd.\u00a0 The country is united on this like no other issue; agreeing that a nuclear North Korea poses a serious threat and that the regime is the most repressive in the word. \u00a0The focus in the gallery was unnecessary, unless of course the President was seriously beating the drums for war.\u00a0 There was strong approval when he discussed success against ISIS, but of course this was simply a continuation of the Obama strategy, thus more stolen credit.\u00a0 The President failed to use the opportunity to discuss Russia or China, the biggest national security threats facing our country.\u00a0 His reference to firing federal employees, though vague and undeveloped, certainly created cause for concern over his authoritarian tendencies and many believe this was a veiled threat against the Department of Justice and Mueller probe.<\/p>\n
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Some pundits say the speech turned dark when President Trump raised immigration.\u00a0 This part of the speech had the most detail because the President reiterated the four pillars of his immigration plan that he had released previously: 1. DACA Protection; 2. Border Security; 3. Diversity Lottery; and 4. Chain Migration.\u00a0 I believe it is extremely likely that a majority of both parties can work a comprehensive agreement on immigration.\u00a0 The President has now publicly laid out a blueprint and indicated a willingness to work a deal.\u00a0 This can and will get done unless one of two things occur.\u00a0 First, Speaker Ryan could prevent the House from voting on the bill to appease the right-wing Freedom Caucus.\u00a0 It would pass overwhelmingly with Democrats and Republicans, but Speaker Ryan refuses to stand up to the Freedom Caucus no matter what the issue.\u00a0 Second, President Trump could renege on such a deal yet again.\u00a0 This could happen under the influence of nativist Stephen Miller or even Chief of Staff Kelly.\u00a0 The other area of likely bipartisan compromise is infrastructure.\u00a0 We are decades overdue in repairing our crumbling and unsafe bridges, tunnels, and highways.\u00a0 There are plenty of recent examples of railroad issues and our airports are so outdated that they challenge efficiency and viability of our air travel system.\u00a0 The biggest challenge here is money.\u00a0 We simply do not have the trillions of dollars necessary to spend to do all that is critical, let alone discretionary modernization.\u00a0 Yet we must.<\/p>\n
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There are some notable issues the President chose not to address.\u00a0 He made one brief reference to coal but avoided any discussion of the environment.\u00a0 He is beholden to Climate Change deniers, but there were some themes he could have included.\u00a0 I was pleasantly surprised there was no mention of abortion and support that decision.\u00a0 The Senate just rejected an abortion bill, but there was not a lot of public debate.\u00a0 The speech was clearly designed to reach a broader audience, perhaps as a first step towards building consensus on several issues.\u00a0 To that end, the speech avoided some of the historically divisive issues we may have expected to hear. \u00a0He had to speak about immigration because Congress is compelled to reach an agreement on DACA and border security and because it was the central issue for his electoral base.<\/p>\n
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President Trump probably clapped a bit too much for himself and I thought it was amusing that he seemed to direct the Democrats to stand and clap for a couple of issues that he knew they would appreciate.\u00a0 The SotU is not about standing and clapping or the place for intense negotiations.\u00a0 Throughout history it has been a time for national unity.\u00a0 The entire government (theoretically) comes together while millions of Americans watch on TV.\u00a0 They see their President and Congressional leaders gather to review the nation\u2019s progress and set the groundwork for the future.\u00a0 The recent hyper-partisanship has diminished the occasion and reduced the meaning and pageantry of the moment.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it is a time to reflect on what makes our democracy work and the strength and determination of our people.\u00a0 Hopefully it inspires people. \u00a0The bar is set low after the President\u2019s first year and the speech, specifically the agenda, was surely imperfect.\u00a0 Nobody heard everything they wanted to hear last night, but it was the first step moving forward and the country needs it.\u00a0 The key point is that it was not his typical speech to his right-wing base and hopefully that matters.<\/p>\n
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I will not spend too much time on the Democratic response because the SotU is what counts each year no matter who gives it.\u00a0 Having five responses is a clown show, totally inappropriate, and serves as strong evidence of the demise of the Democratic Party that we knew.\u00a0 I will post more on that on the blog later this week.\u00a0 That said, Congressman Kennedy gave a good speech in what appeared to be the main response.\u00a0 He spoke about traditional core Democratic values.\u00a0 He included disaffected working families that had abandoned Democrats.\u00a0 I liked the contrast wherein he highlighted that the Trump administration constantly divides the American people, forcing voters to choose between priorities, but that Democrats should refuse those choices and focus on all priorities.<\/p>\n
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There are certain pundits criticizing the Democrats for not publicly resisting during the speech.\u00a0 These pundits claim the Democrats should have responded vocally in the chamber to specific parts, should have gotten up and walked out en masse after certain parts, and engage in other more demonstrative behavior.\u00a0 What a terrible mistake.\u00a0 First, the President\u2019s words were those he has spoken plenty of times before and nothing new.\u00a0 Rep Joe Wilson\u2019s, \u201cYou Lie!\u201d during an Obama SotU was a terrible breach of decorum, one not repeated.\u00a0 If Democrats interrupted the speech vocally or by walking out as a group they would have broken decorum and would have lost in the end for doing so.\u00a0 It is one thing, an important thing, for citizens to hold rallies to express their opposition to President Trump\u2019s policies and behavior.\u00a0 Hopefully these rallies will garner support and lead to results at the polls in 2018 and 2020.\u00a0 Our elected leaders, however, need to behave like professionals and adults.\u00a0 You never violate the decorum and sanctity of the chamber.\u00a0 This is especially true because the speech itself focused a lot on bi-partisanship and not the usual Trump firebrand right-wing, nationalist rally.<\/p>\n
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President Trump will likely get a boost in his approval ratings for the speech (at least until the next round of tweets).\u00a0 The Democrats clearly demonstrated their disapproval last night.\u00a0 Anything more in the chamber would have been morally wrong and I believe would have cost them in the polls.\u00a0 Democrats misjudged the recent shutdown and learned quickly it would cost them support in the midterms this year. \u00a0Democratic voters and members of Congress may despise the President and disagree with everything he does.\u00a0 However, as long as he is President, and right now that appears to be at least through 2020, they cannot pass any legislation without his support.\u00a0 If protections for DACA are critical, and they are, that can only happen by working with Republicans and with the President\u2019s signature.\u00a0 The nation faces significant challenges at home and abroad.\u00a0 Like it or not, everyone must play their role, or we lose our country.\u00a0 Fight the elections and govern the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Trump did a good job delivering the State of the Union (SotU) last night.\u00a0 He appeared to stay on message, followed the script, and other than few excessive gestures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[83,134,198,225,232,277],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-democrats","tag-immigration","tag-national-security","tag-president-trump","tag-republicans","tag-state-of-the-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}