"Winning The Future" While Mending The Present

Image by Getty Images via @daylifePresident Barack Obama's State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress was played under slightly different rules, due to the recent shootings in Arizona resulting in the absence of Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (for which a chair was left unsat).  There were no shouts of  "You lie!", no finger-wagging from a Supreme Court justice, and members of both parties sat next to each other as if the House chambers were a 1950s malt shop.  Still, there was the requisite number of unnecessary standing ovations that pushed the speech to an hour.  (ABC's George Stephanopoulous counted 45.)

The President talked about "winning the future" in ways which made him sound like the Republican he isn't, as a gesture of goodwill to the new GOP majority in the House, as well as echoing the challenges John F. Kennedy laid down 50 years ago this month.  Obama recited the usual laundry list of proposals (the details would come later) intended to improve the economic picture.  He even asked for a freeze on domestic spending for the next five years.  And he defended the health care law that was passed in the last session, pleading with the new Congress not to gut it in favor of the insurance companies.  All in the spirit of bipartisanship.

The GOP response was given by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who basically said that the United States could turn into the next Greece if the budget deficit isn't solved soon.  But he sounded like an adult next to Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who was speaking for the Tea Party in what had to be an awkward moment for the Republicans.  She brought up many of the same themes Ryan did in a more animated fashion complete with charts and graphics.  (If you were watching CNN, however, you'll notice that Bachmann wasn't making eye contact with the camera.)  Both of them talked about how government spending had gone up since Obama took office, without bothering to mention that if George W. Bush hadn't wasted the budget surplus bequeathed by Bill Clinton on two wars when he was President, we wouldn't be in this mess.

President Obama talked plenty about a rosy future for the United States and waxed optimistic about the people in it, which is what someone in his position should be doing.  Maybe the President should concentrate on winning the present, because with the economy going at a snail's pace, that's what a lot of people are facing right now.