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President Barack Obama greets people upon arriving at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Jan. 25., as part of a three-day, five states tour, a day after his State of Union speech. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
President Obama’s Tuesday night State of the Union address was well received by American voters, according to follow-up polls, focus groups, and analysts, but questions remain as to whether he can accomplish his objectives.
In delivering his third State of the Union address, Obama avoided combative language in an election year, focusing instead on unity and equality of opportunity as he outlined strategies to restore economic prosperity and to strengthen America’s middle class.
“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by,” he told Congress and over 40 million viewers, “or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”
“What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.”
President Obama outlined proposals to facilitate better educational and training opportunities, to encourage manufacturing in America rather than overseas, and to reform both individual and corporate tax codes.
Obama appealed to a sense of shared values as he acknowledged the hard economic times the country is enduring.
“They know that this generation’s success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to their country’s future, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility,” the president stated. “That’s how we’ll reduce our deficit. That’s an America built to last.”
Obama’s call to the nation has been described as his best to date, upbeat, and positive about the future. Supporters have described it as offering more appeal than the stressed and declining America proposed by Republican candidates, as they campaign for the primaries.
Stephen Hess, former speech writer and advisor to Presidents Ford and Carter, described it as “an effective speech.” Although the speech contained a “laundry list” of items, Hess said that was hard to avoid in a State of the Union address.
“I do think he managed to have enough thematic material that we have a sense of where he wants to go beyond the immediate session of Congress,” Hess added.
Of viewers surveyed in a CNN/Opinion research poll, 84 percent reacted positively and 54 percent reacting very positively to Obama’s address, while a CBS News Poll recorded a 91 percent approval rating for the speech Tuesday night.
Democrats and independents dominated in both those polls, but focus groups of swing voters also gave high approval ratings across the political divide, according to Elisabeth Jacobs, political analyst with the Brookings Institution.
Jacobs says Obama framed his appeal for economic fairness in the right way, the polls confirming that he has hit the right chord with American voters.
“Americans like the idea of equality of opportunity,” she told a Brookings forum on the State of the Union address, “but do not like equality of results.”
She explained that Obama had instinctively accounted for the American perception that equality can be too close to socialism and that “too much equality can make opportunity impossible.”
Taxing the Wealthy
The president may have increased his appeal by announcing the “Buffet Rule,” a new tax proposal directed at the wealthiest of citizens, requiring those that earn over a million dollars a year to pay no less than 30 percent in taxes.
The announcement was politically timely, as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney came under attack from rivals for refusing initially to release his tax returns other than to declare he paid only 15 percent tax on the millions he earned through investments, and as CEO of Bain Capital.
More than two-thirds of all Americans back higher taxes on the rich, according to a Bloomberg Washington post poll conducted in October last year, and more than half of the Republicans identified indicated they also approve.
Foreign Policy
President Obama outlined his perspectives on foreign policy, tying in increased engagement with foreign powers during his administration with the prospect of trade and exports.
“The renewal of American leadership can be felt across the globe,” the president asserted, pointing to stronger ties with Europe, Asia, and the Americas, continued commitment to Israel, and increased engagement in the Pacific.
“America is back,” he said.
The president reserved his strongest language for Iran. “Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” he said. Such comments may appease Republicans in Congress who have become increasingly agitated about the rogue state.
And as much as he called for a fair deal for Americans at home, Obama also came down hard on foreign countries that do not compete fairly in international trade, highlighting subsidized industries and software piracy.
He pointed particularly to China, saying, “I will not stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules.”
In adopting a tough tone with competitors on trade, “I think he has set the right tone for the year ahead,” said Martin Indyk, author and foreign policy specialist.
Economics Still a Concern
Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered the Republican response to Obama’s State of the Union address.
Obama had not created the economic and fiscal crisis, he said, but had also not fulfilled his promise to fix it.
Daniels agreed that the wealthy should contribute to reducing debt but accused the president of overseeing an “explosion of spending” and a “mindless piling on of expensive new regulations.”
He called for “a dramatically simpler tax system of fewer loopholes and lower rates” and pro-job, pro-growth strategies.
Economic analyst Karen Dynan, speaking at the Brookings Institution forum, said Obama did not come close to laying out a comprehensive plan on the economy.
“The lack of a fiscal plan was a disservice to the economy,” she said, noting that Republicans had also neglected “to focus the national conversation on what actually needs to be done.”
While Obama had noted General Motors was “back on top as the world’s number one automaker” and “America is more productive,” Dynan believes unemployment rates are still too high.Europeans economic woes were not over, she said, saying that the United States would do well to take heed of Europe’s troubles.
