President Obama's Second State of the Union Speech

My take on the President's speech can be found here and here.

Tucson Shooting, Political Rhetoric, and Obama Memorial Speech

My various takes on the tragic shootings in Tucscon, the role of political rhetoric both before and after the attack can be found here and here, along with a preview and reaction to President Obama's speech memorializing the victims at the University of Arizona.

President Obama's 2nd Oval Office Speech: End of Iraq War Combat

After avoiding the Oval Office address for 15 months, President Obama is now giving his second such speech in two months. In June, he discussed the BP oil spill from that historic setting. Tonight, the subject is the end of combat operation in the seven year Iraq war. Here is an interesting take on whether Obama should even deliver this as a high profile rhetoric event. I would agree that the President's political focus should be on the economy. On the other hand, it also takes the spotlight, for one night anyway, away from the jobs numbers and shines it on a fulfilled campaign promise. The topic also allows Obama to transcend the nasty street fighting of the midterm campaign and appear presidential and serious, which, despite the silliness of much political rhetoric and commentary these days, is something many Americans still crave in their elected leaders.

Obama's First Oval Office Speech

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama chose the gulf oil spill crisis as being of sufficient gravity to justify his first use of the Oval Office for a nationally televised speech. Until this time, Obama has relied on prime time press conferences and high profile speeches in front of live audiences to get his message out. With the oil spill nearing its two-month anniversary and public anger mounting, the President needed to counter perceptions of a sluggish response and detached manner related to the crisis. Going in, I predicted that the President needed to reflect the public's anger and channel their helplessness (interview can be found about half through this mp3 link). For various reasons, the speech has been criticized by those on the left and right, and, most pervasively, by media commentators. And to prove that I don't echo the vast media echo chamber, I have to disagree. It just was not that bad of a speech, especially upon a second viewing. As I mention in my initial reaction, it wasn't perfect by a long shot--some no doubt looked for a more detailed flogging of BP. Also, more details are always nice but can also unnecessarily limit options for the President in pursuing policy, so I understand that choice. Anyway, for whatever it's worth, some additional links can be found here and here.

Tax & Spend Politics: Bizarro Rhetoric at its Best

Happy Tax Day! Why is it happy? Well, according to the non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, "Middle-income Americans are now paying federal taxes at or near historically low levels." The linked article also reports that "Even conservative economic analysts acknowledge that there really is no basis for middle- and working-class Americans to believe that they're suddenly paying more." Hurrah! We've achieved bipartisan consensus on taxes, an issue that is usually rife with political divisiveness. So, once again, Happy Tax Day, America! In fact, a parade is passing through Washington DC on this very day to celebrate our good fortune and thank the President who generated much of these tax savings.

What? It's not a parade? It's a rally? Oh, you mean, like a Woodstock kind of rally--peace, love, and reduced taxes? No? It's a protest rally? Why are they ruining Happy Tax Day with some random protest? Oh...wait, it's an ANTI-TAX protest... So let me see if I get this--they're against lower taxes? Oh, they *think* they're paying higher taxes, or will *someday* be paying higher taxes, or... My head is starting to hurt.

Here we go again. Republican and Teabaggers' annual descent into Wonderland on the issue of taxation and budget deficits. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the current administration has reduced taxes and passed a health care reform plan that's fiscally responsible, the threadbare, ragged banner of "tax and spend" rhetoric is waved again. This time, the arguments are based on speculative future taxation that has not yet occurred but "eventually" will. This is the drum being beaten today by the courageous Karl Rove (his memoir is titled Courage and Consequence so he must be courageous, right?). Captain Courage writes that increased levies against the pharmaceutical, insurance, and medical industries "eventually will hit ordinary Americans" and that "higher business taxes are eventually paid by those who buy goods and services." When one removes Rove's crutch of eventualities, what he's actually admitting is something like this: "Okay, taxes on ordinary Americans have not increased at all, but I'm actually concerned about tax hikes on rich people and big business, but I know have to somehow talk about ordinary Americans, so I'll talk about future taxes that don't exist and therefore can't be denied." Well, where's the courage in dodgy rhetoric like that?

What's driving people like Rove bananas is that, this time, Obama and the Democrats have refused to give in to the usual rhythms of tax and spend politics. After the Reagan administration left the country deep in red ink, President Clinton did the what seemed like the responsible thing and pursued deficit reduction policies in lieu of major program initiatives. The result was a budget surplus. In comes George W. Bush and, eight years later, after tax cuts for the wealthy and military adventures, the surplus was long gone and the red ink was back. The expectation by many conservatives was that Obama, like Clinton, would "do the right thing," be forced to capitulate his policy ambitions to the tax and spend cycle, and pursue only "small ball" initiatives. He didn't. He pushed for comprehensive health care reform and won. Consciously or unconsciously, Obama and Congressional Democrats finally recognized that if they did nothing to disrupt the existing rhythms of tax and spend politics, they would never achieve significant policy reform again. With the stroke of a pen, Obama ended the cycle of "we spend/you tax (or be paralyzed by budget deficits). Democrats now have health care reform and tax cuts, and that reality forces their opponents to conjure up the Ghost of Taxes to Come as this year's campaign bogeyman. Thank God we have Captain Courage to protect us.

Obama's First State of the Union Speech

My take on last night's State of the Union Speech can be found here.

Obama "Back to School" Speech and Health Care Address to Congress

My pre-speech and post-speech analysis can be found here.

Guantanamo Update

A recent Washington Post article on the Obama administration's ongoing efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison can be found here. This is an issue I've blogged about a couple of times. What's interesting to me is: (1) Despite the skepticism and cynicism about the President's promise to close the embarrassing facility, the administration is quietly making great strides toward achieving its goal, and (2) Other countries around the globe are demonstrating more courage than those "tough on terrorism" U.S. leaders who are crying "NIMBY" when it comes to dealing with the Guantanamo detainees. Note in the article that foreign leaders WANT to do something to help Obama on this issue and that's precisely because the President has improved our standing in the world by doing the right thing on Guantanamo. On this issue, Obama is exactly right--our country's principled stands and hard work can lead to positive, concrete responses from other nations. That's something that's been missing on both ends during this decade.

Balz on Wisconsin, Obama, and Rhetoric

Being a Wisconsin native and a rhetoric professor, I find Washington Post reporter Dan Balz's take on both Wisconsin's historically idiosyncratic political tastes and Obama's passionate defense of the power of the spoken word to be particularly interesting. Of course, the fact that Obama apparently plagiarized that passionate defense makes for a nice twist.