One year down, one STOU to reflect upon

Meant to post this on Wednesday . . .

First let me start by saying that I think President Obama did about as well as he could have in his first State of the Union address. It is easy for most of us to forget what he was walking into when he took office a little over a year ago and I'm glad he reminded the nation. Not as a "feel sorry for me" reflection but as a "damn, we could be in far worse shape than we are" realization. Now is the real test: can he get congress to develop a real, bipartisan jobs bill. I think he can because both parties need a victory going into November and if Republicans stand in the way of job creation they are at risk of losing independents when they go to the polls.

For the first time since I've been watching the STOU, I didn't hear a boo, hiss or cat-call. Sure Republicans grumbled but they stood quite a few times as well. But what is most important to remember is that Obama wasn't speaking to Republicans or Democrats, he was speaking to independents. He extended the olive branch on key issues like energy, tax cuts and deficit reduction. He made a pretty good (yet unsubstanitated and speculative) case that the recovery act/stimulus bill, TARP and spending bill kept the economy from collapsing further (earlier in the day Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson even said that without that help we probably would have seen 25 percent unemployment). I tend to believe that even though Obama didn't achieve everything he set out to do, his first year was pretty much a success because we are relatively economically stable and safe.

I liked that he took both parties to task on the way they do business, he's said this before in many speeches but tonight it really resonated. He demonized the Washington culture and how both parties approach policy. The mood of the country, most notably independents, is that collectively everyone is sick of solutions being scuttled by partisanship. He put the ball back into the Republican court on such things as healthcare reform (which might actually look something like it should have from the beginning), 21st century energy solutions, bank reform and consumer credit reform. He illustrated that partisianship may very well place us at a distinct disadvantage with China, Germany and India. He is dead-on right that the rest of the world is moving forward with infrastructure, green energy and job solutions while we wallow in our own quagmire of destructive politics. He also challenged Republicans to provide real solutions to the problems facing all Americans rather than just criticize the solutions presented to them. Tax cuts are not always the only answer.

But most important, he layed out shortterm and longterm job creation plans. Like I said, this will be a make-it, break-it issue for both parties this election year and whomever seems to be an obstacle will lose.

He highlighted healthcare reform and even made fun of himself in the process, but was lacking on what it will look like. I would have liked a better outline of his plans moving forward but he has a little time.

I do have to say is that the Republicans need to find someone dynamic to give the response. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell looks like a Republican . . . almost like a robot. I want to see some personality from the Republicans and they've missed the last two times on these responses.