Obama heads toward the center (Jan. 28)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
President Obama’s first State of the Union address Wednesday night saw him moving to the center, going after money from Wall Street Bankers, vowing to help small businesses create jobs and vowing to foster education reform through ideas such as charter schools and rewarding teaching excellence.
These suggestions won’t earn him many friends on the right — or the left.
On the whole, he was apologetic. “Change (his campaign theme) has not come fast enough,” Obama acknowledged. But then he scolded the politician-packed House chamber for a lack of progress, saying, “As hard as it may be, as uncomfortable and contentious as the debates may be, it’s time to get serious about fixing the problems that are hampering our growth.”
Later he said to the Republicans present, “Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.”
The president admitted that his “health insurance reform” plan likely would not pass in its present form, but he didn’t exactly throw it under a bus, either. He detailed the problems America continues to have with health care financing, and implored Congress not to forget the people experiencing those problems.
By focusing on the unemployment rate — one in 10 Americans can’t find a job — Obama hoped to regain the attention of those who voted for him, and to give the Republicans a chance to say yes to something they claim to back.
Obama’s plan to help small businesses get loans seemed heartening, but a little confusing. He said the $30 billion he hoped to make available to community banks — whatever those are — would come from unused money that had been voted to aid big banks. Then, he said, a tax on big banks (the ones too big to fail) would repay the government for that money. Huh?
