UWG political science professor Paul Rutledge offers his take on tonight's State of the Union speech by President Barack Obama:
I think this is a critical speech at a critical moment in the Obama presidency, that will set the tone for the remainder of his term.
Thus far the unified Democratic government has not produced in ways that are acceptable to the American public, so this marks a tremendous opportunity, and perhaps a last opportunity, for President Obama to change his course.
I think the speech needs to do a few things.
First, he needs to continue advocating health care reform. To back off of that now would not be acceptable to the left, and may make him appear weak.
At the same time, it is of critical importance for his speech to shift the focus away from health care reform and start addressing the elephant in the room, the economy.
The best course of action for President Obama at his time would be to focus the majority of his speech on an admission that the middle class is still hurting, and call upon Congress to enact measures to increase jobs in the short term, and alleviate some of the financial burden faced by middle class families during this time of crisis.
I see this as indeed his only chance of regaining some momentum with the public.
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