Posted on 01/28/2014 6:45:02 PM PST by markomalley
President Obama on Tuesday unleashed a torrent of new executive actions, using his State of the Union address to underline his willingness to govern without Congress.
Obama promised a dozen actions in the next year —including the creation of new “starter” savings accounts and a hike in the minimum wage for federal contractors — intended to embolden Democrats ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
The prime time speech from the podium of the House immediately drew Republican condemnation as an effort to create an imperial presidency, but was staunchly defended by Democrats as a legitimate and necessary use of executive authority in the face of GOP obstruction.
Throughout the speech, Obama stressed that the government should work to provide “opportunity for all,” by addressing head-on the problems of income inequality and waning mobility.
“What I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Some require Congressional action, and I'm eager to work with all of you," Obama said. “But America does not stand still — and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do.”
The White House decided on that theme after speaking to a wide-swath of people on policy, including lawmakers up for reelection in 2014. The message is one White House officials believe Democrats can run on in November.
Obama talked up a strengthening economy at the beginning of his address, and also poked congressional Republicans over last fall’s government shutdown while calling on both parties to work together.
“When that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy – when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States – then we are not doing right by the American people," Obama said.
Obama asked Congress to join him in making 2014 “a year of action,” an acknowledgement that many of his executive proposals are smaller initiatives, and that he needs Congress to go big.
“In the coming months, let’s see where else we can make progress together,” he said. “Let’s make this a year of action. That’s what most Americans want – for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations.”
Obama specifically called for congressional action on a slate of legislative priorities the White House argues are essential for a still-lagging economy.
Chief among them was immigration reform, which Obama argued should be fixed to strengthen the economy and create thousands of new jobs.
On that issue, Obama stopped short of mentioning recent efforts to push a bill in the House, in a move senior administration officials said was done intentionally to give Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other Republican lawmakers space to maneuver.
Obama also prodded Congress to expand the popular Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides benefits to low-wage workers, and renewed his calls to reform the corporate and investment tax codes and spend more on infrastructure.
The president and his senior aides decided on the populist theme in November. While
White House officials maintained the strategy born out of a sincere desire to advocate for the poor and middle class, they admitted they wanted to demonstrate their commitment to act to a public frustrated by stagnation in Washington.
Obama will take the message on the road with a campaign-style whistle-stop tour beginning on Wednesday, when he travels to a steel mill in Pittsburgh and visits a Costco in Maryland. At Costco, Obama will highlight the mega-store's practice of raising wages on their own, and urge business leaders to follow that example.
At the stop in Pennsylvania, the president will highlight his executive action creating a starter savings account to help Americans save for retirement. Senior administration officials said the accounts would be issued by the private sector and would be a good option for those who didn't have a 401K or a retirement account.
On Thursday, the president will travel to a gas engine factory in Wisconsin and a high school in Tennessee.
While there, Obama will tout some of the public-private education efforts unveiled in the speech, including a new apprenticeship program and a federal grant program designed to encourage schools to redesign their curriculums with a new emphasis on technical and trade skills.
The focus on executive action and the economy harkened back to Obama’s election-year State of the Union in 2012, though White House officials insisted there was a difference with the “We can’t wait” strategy launched that year and stressed that Obama did not intend the speech as overly partisan.
One senior administration official said the 2012 effort was done as a way to shame Congress into acting, but argued that this year’s approach is different because it highlights how Obama will be governing over the coming months.
Still, the speech included some red meat for the liberal base. Obama proposed new fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks, and directed his administration to cut carbon pollution through new regulations.
He also encouraged Americans to sign up for health insurance available under his signature law, while warning Republicans that repeal is not an option.
Perhaps it’s time to suspend the Obama Regime? Deem it to be Null & Void?
Works for me.
One man's (?) release of a torrent, is another man's nibble about the edges. Obama, the One who challenged the depths of the oceans and the heights of the heavens as he stood among the pillars and multitudes of the earth is now reduced to tweeting pictures of his pen. It is not easy to describe the depths to which he has fallen. "Unleashing a torrent" doesn't do it.
Again, who will stop him? The courts? He owns them. The Republican Party? They are in cahoots with him. Will the people rise up and say, Enough? As long as he doesn’t mess with Monday Night Football he is safe from that. Plus, in two National elections, the people have said, via their votes, enslave us, make us your slaves, make us secure. To hell with freedom.
I see where you're coming from -- but it can easily lead to bias against large families.
I come from such a family, we didn't starve and weren't medically neglected or anything, but there are a lot of people who might be inclined under a law like you propose to call my parents lawbreakers.
I don't equate having a large family with parents who have no means to adequately care for their children. Kids don't have to have everything that comes down the pike and some, I'm sure, are spoiled rotten.
Aside from that, we do want our children to "fit in" in some measure with their peers. It can be tough for many parents.
Designer jeans, the latest smart phone, Ivy League school, a high school graduation trip to Florida, etc. They really don't NEED any one of those things---they need to be taught a value system early on, including becoming educated. One of my cousins had 18 living children (two others died at birth). Other than two I've heard of who have had some problems, they've all done just fine. Were they wealthy? No! But they did their job.
I still believe those who can't support a child are morally responsible not to bring a baby into the world.
I'm not debating that…
I don't equate having a large family with parents who have no means to adequately care for their children.
You might not, but can you say that the government will not? Moreover, once they start defining "adequate care" they can set it so that there is nothing that is, realistically speaking, adequate. — It could be in this way that children become the property/wards of the state… this is something that the Statists desperately wants, it is why they dislike homeschooling.
All I can say is “What a scary world we now have.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.