Judging by the headlines of the nation’s major news papers, President Obama succeeded in articulating his platform for reelection last night: class warfare through higher taxes on the rich. “Obama says nation must address inequality,” The Washington Post reads. “Obama Speech Makes Pitch for Economic Fairness,” The New York Times says. And “Obama says all must pay ‘fair share’ of taxes,” The Los Angeles Times reports.
Is this a winning message? Not according to Gallup. A December poll found that while only 46 percent of Americans believe it is important that the federal government reduce the income equality, 82 percent said it is important for the government to grow and expand the economy. And a June poll found that a plurality of Americans rejected the idea that the government should redistribute wealth through heavy taxes on the rich by a 49 percent to 47 percent margin.
In his State of the Union response, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels perfectly captured why Obama’s past and future policies are failing and will continue to fail: “The President’s grand experiment in trickle-down government has held back rather than sped economic recovery. He seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars. In fact, it works the other way: a government as big and bossy as this one is maintained on the backs of the middle class, and those who hope to join it.”
If only an actual Republican candidate that had Daniels record and integrity could voice a similar critique of Obama.
State of the Union
The Washington Examiner‘s Phil Klein: “Health care policy writer Dan Diamond noted on Twitter that [Obama’s speech had] the fewest words spent on health care in a State of the Union speech for two decades… nterestingly, in his Republican response, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels didn’t take the opportunity to go after Obamacare. This raises the question of whether both parties see health care as not a major issue during the 2012 election.”
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: “Normally a President at the start of his fourth year would be running on his record, accentuating the legislation he’s passed. Mr. Obama can’t do that with any specificity because the economic recovery has been so weak and the legislation he has passed is so unpopular. So last night he took credit for the shale gas revolution he had nothing to do with and proposed new policies to “spread the wealth around,” as he famously told Joe the Plumber in 2008 before he took the words back. We thought he meant it then, and now he’s admitting it.”
The Heritage Foundation‘s Matt Spalding: “Americans believe in equality as a principle – as in we are all created equal and are all equal before the law. They support equal opportunity for everyone-a deeply American concept that makes no appearance in Obama’s speech. That’s because equal opportunity for all also leads to vast differences, great diversity and much inequality in many things-which is the natural outgrowth of liberty and human flourishing. What Americans oppose is a vast government trying to make all outcomes equal-regardless of individual effort.”
National Review‘s Yuval Levin: “Even more galling than the examples was the very use of the Lincoln quote itself, which makes precisely the opposite point to the one made by the rest of the president’s speech. This speech offered a vision of a profoundly technocratic and activist government, with its hands in every nook and cranny of the nation’s economic life.”
The Weekly Standard‘s Bill Kristol: “President Obama wants us to think so. In his State of the Union Address, his case for his conventionally liberal, big government, welfare state agenda was sandwiched between tributes to perhaps the least liberal major public institution in America—the American military.”
The Weekly Standard‘s Mark Hemingway: “Obama’s State of the Union might be most notable for what was not said. There were 44 words dedicated to health care reform. There was no mention of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka stimulus bill.”
Talking Points Memo‘s Brian Beutler: “[The speech] read in a way as a series of critiques of the GOP’s most prominent rhetorical attacks on Democratic priorities, and as a piecemeal rebuttal of the talking points his most likely general election opponent Mitt Romney has levied against him in a bid to shore up support among Republican base voters.”
The Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent: “Obama’s speech tonight was a bit short on the sort of grandiose and stirring populist oratory we heard in his Kansas speech; today’s effort was long and attempted to check a lot of boxes. But on balance he laid out a pretty solid set of narratives that, if he and Democrats have their way, will frame the reelection campaign to his advantage.”
Slate‘s Matt Yglesias: “Framing the entire economic message of the speech was a strikingly retrograde, self-contradictory, and confused agenda of reviving American prosperity through mercantilism.”
Campaign 2012
Romney: Under a “Obama isn’t working” sign, Mitt Romney ripped the president before his State of the Union Address: “If tonight were the first message to Congress in a Romney administration … I wouldn’t spend my time blaming others for how we got in this mess. I’d explain how we’re going to get out of it. … It’s shameful for a president to use the State of the Union to divide our nation.” Meanwhile, the Restore Our Future Super PAC, will air $4.5 million in ads in 10 Florida markets attacking Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich: Newt Gingrich addressed supporters in an airport hanger before Obama spoke last night: “Tonight, the president will explain it was all George W. Bush’s fault. This is the fourth year of his presidency, he needs to get over it.”
Florida: A new Quinnipiac University poll has Mitt Romney beating Newt Gingrich 36 percent to 34 percent, but the interviews taken before South Carolina had Romney up 37 to 26 while the interviews after South Carolina had Gingrich up 40 to 34. And Te Service Employees International Union began airing a Spanish-language radio spot in Tampa and Orlando Tuesday, attacking Romney for not supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants.
GOP Field: MSNBC‘s Andrea Mitchell reported last night that a top Romney adviser told her that if Romney loses Florida, “We’re going to have to try to reinvent the smoke-filled room which has been democratized by all these primaries. And we’re going to have try to come with someone as an alternative to Newt Gingrich who could be Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, someone.”
Around the Bigs
The Washington Examiner, Camping ban to be enforced against Occupy: National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis said he will begin to enforce the federal law against the Occupy DC protesters in McPherson Square soon. Protesters will be allowed to maintain a 24-hour vigil in the park as long as they sleep elsewhere.
The Guardian, Merkel casts doubt on saving Greece from financial meltdown: For the first time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has cast doubt on Europe’s chances of saving Greece from financial meltdown and sovereign default.
The New York Times, European Central Bank Moves to Avoid Loss on Greek Bonds: European leaders are trying to figure out how to save the European Central Bank from having to take the same loss on its 55 billion-euro portfolio of Greek bonds that private investors are facing.
Righty Playbook
AEI‘s James Pethokoukis looks at how Obama’s mortgage refinancing plan would work.
Walter Russell Mead notes that black women are becoming more entrepreneurial.
Lefty Playbook
The Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent posts a chart showing what Mitt Romney would have paid in taxes had his tax policies been in effect last year.
The Huffington Post reports that in a 1993 speech, Newt Gingrich said that Latinos, Blacks don’t understand the ‘key to future wealth,’ but Asians do.
Daily Kos‘ Steve Singiser provides more evidence that Barack Obama is the winner of the GOP primary fight.
