Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Politics and Religion
SOTU

SOTU

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 9:39 pm by Jane the Actuary

SOTU 2015-02-24T21:39:54-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So I didn’t actually watch the speech — which is still going on as I type — but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits — the next and final step is to find the lost final piece) and idly listed to it. But now let’s read though — or at least skim through and talk about the interesting bits of — the text, from Time.com, one of the first hits. (Fun fact: another one of the first hits was the White House website. But the text didn’t seem quite right — only after looking at this a bit did I realize that this was the 2014 SOTU, but it was so similar I didn’t figure this out at first.)

So:

He starts of with the pitch that the economy is doing well, and, of course, it’s because of his policies. (Even though, ironically, he boasts of lower gas prices but he himself said gas should cost more, rather than less.) His list includes 11 million new jobs, the “highest math and reading scores on record” for “our younger students,” an all-time high high school graduation rate, a reduction in the number of uninsured, etc. He calls this “middle-class economics.” And he promises to veto any bill that “takes away health insurance,” or “unravels Wall Street regulations” or “refights past immigration battles.”

His first new item: ” my plan will make quality childcare more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America – by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year.” Now, we’ve heard of bump in the tax credit for childcare before, but I’m not sure what he means by “creating more slots”; that makes sense only if we’re referring to government-provided childcare, since there is no shortage of private childcare.

He asks for a bill providing 7 days of paid leave.

He asks Congress to “pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work.” Really? Does he not understand that this law already exists?

He calls for a minimum-wage hike, because you can’t “support a family” on minimum wage. Well, of course not.

He, of course, touts his community college plan, but deceptively: the plan as previously announced is for the first two years, and only for full-time attendance. But he touts this for single parents, older students, and others who are, in practice, attending part-time, and may have taken classes in the past.

He claims improvements have been made at the VA.

He asks for a bipartisan infrastructure bill: “So let’s set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline. Let’s pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more than thirty times as many jobs per year, and make this country stronger for decades to come.” Which is I suppose his way of rejecting the Keystone Pipeline.

He asks for authority for new trade deals.

He announces a Precision Medicine Initiative. Which is great, but doesn’t that require spending money that he doesn’t have appropriations power over?

He blandly calls for more technology.

And here’s where the rubber hits the road: his plan for tax increases.

He repeats his tired claim that we need to “close loopholes so we stop rewarding companies that keep profits abroad.” And he says, “let’s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth.” — which I imagine refers to the proposed limitations on deferred taxes on income build-up in 401(k)/IRAs, but sure sounds like a wealth tax.

On foreign policy: he touts his “diplomacy” and “coalition-building” and claims that “American leadership – including our military power – is stopping ISIL’s advance.” Really? Last I read, we were doing a lousy job, if at all.

He implies that we’ve “fixed” Russian aggression because “its economy [is] in tatters” — though they are still controlling Crimea and the Ukranian borderlands.

Unsurprisingly, he touts his Cuban “deal”/giveaway.

He says he’ll veto any sanctions on Iran and says he’s hopeful that we’ll prevent a nuclear Iran by negotiation.

He asks for legislation to counter cyber-attacks.

He touts the role U.S. troops played in Africa fighting Ebola. (Funny, it was just the other day I read an article that said we were basically there after the crisis was receding.)

He repeats the bit about 2014 being the warmest year on record (wasn’t that retracted just as quickly as it was claimed?) and calls for action to reduce emissions.

He says we lead by the example of our values, so he’s prohibited torture, and “worked to make sure our use of new technology like drones is properly constrained” (really?), and we ” continue to reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims,” and repeats his determination to shut down Gitmo.

Then he brings back his old “not a black America and a white America” speech ans says “I still believe that we are one people.” And he speaks very passively, that “pundits” say that our politics are more divided than ever.

And he starts into a section on “a better politics” and claims that we’ll all pull together. Pardon me if I’m skeptical of his examples. He claims that he’s not demanding that the GOP just adopt all his ideas but that we work together, but then his “compromises” are these:

for abortion: “every woman should have access to the health care she needs.” Come on, everyone knows that abortion-rights folks have defined “healthcare” to include aboriton.

for immigration: don’t take a hardworking mom from her child.

with respect to “the events of Ferguson and New York”: he calls for reforming the criminal justice system “so that it protects and serves us all.”

So that’s it.

I thought there would be something in it that’s interesting to talk about, but it’s not. Just an hour of, well, nothingness.

What did you think?

Uncategorized

Obama

State of the Union

Previous Post

January 20, 2015

Invitation to speculation

Next Post

January 21, 2015 Parking a link: the Consumer Expenditure Survey

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A centurion A leper A blind man A tax collector