Ronald Reagan may not have known he was setting precedent when he first declared in 1983 that “the state of our union is strong,” but that has been the adjective of choice for each of his successors in diagnosing the country’s current condition. President Barack Obama was no exception on Tuesday, and, in many ways, he is correct. However, strong is not synonymous with perfect, and in laying out his agenda for 2015, Obama listed the many areas that could stand improvement – beginning with fostering middle-class economic growth.
Obama’s vision is grand and is likely to remain largely an aspiration for the remainder of his term, given that Republicans control both chambers of Congress. The challenge he issued the legislative branch should resonate, though, for its basis in centrist support for the large segment of Americans who continue to struggle despite the economic recovery the country has seen in the years after the 2008 recession. Many of Obama’s proposals were pragmatic. Many were optimistic, both in their scope and their desired effect. Few are likely to advance in Congress.
In recognizing the concrete struggles that unemployment and stagnating wages have wrought upon many American families, Obama outlined a suite of proposals that aim to help with those challenges. Paid sick time for all American workers; almost tripling, to $3,000 per child, the child care tax credit parents can claim; equalizing the pay scale for women and raising the minimum wage received top billing in Obama’s address. These tax breaks would be paid for by revising the tax structure for capital gains and inheritance – income garnered disproportionately by America’s wealthiest. It is wealth redistribution that, Obama said, would serve as an equalizer, not a magic bullet. “These ideas won’t make everybody rich, or relieve every hardship. That’s not the job of government. To give working families a fair shot, we’ll still need more employers to see beyond next quarter’s earnings and recognize that investing in their workforce is in their company’s long-term interest,” Obama said, pivoting to job training, education and trade agreements to energize American exports. He is correct about the need for each piece; though all of Obama’s proposals do not make for a perfect United States.
The challenges that so many Americans face are factors in – and of – a global geopolitical and economic context that is complex and elusive in both its problems and its potential solutions. Primary among these is the instability in the Middle East – made exponentially more dangerous by the emergence of the so-called Islamic State. In his speech, Obama downplayed this complexity and expressed a somewhat overly optimistic interpretation of the current and near-term realities in Iran, Israel, Syria and Northern Africa: “Between now and this spring, we have a chance to negotiate a comprehensive agreement that prevents a nuclear-armed Iran; secures America and our allies – including Israel; while avoiding yet another Middle East conflict,” Obama said. Perhaps, but such an agreement has long been elusive.
The answers required to solve the many challenges we face – both domestic and global – might not be as simple as the president would have us believe, and given the ever-more divisive political climate governing all decisions in Washington, D.C., the prognosis for an ever-stronger union is optimistic indeed. That does not diminish either the vision or the means of achieving it, and Obama is correct to outline a pragmatic path forward. Whether it is attainable in the year to come remains an overarching question.
