America’s national political media has surveyed the state of the union and pronounced it strong.
Though some reports ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday referenced a few of the unresolved, hot-button issues facing the nation — immigration, stagnant wages, the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — signs of a rebounding economy and Obama’s uptick in public approval were the consistent highlights.
“With the American job market surging to life, President Obama plans to use his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to effectively declare victory over the economic hard times that dominated his first six years in office and advocate using the nation’s healthier finances to tackle long-deferred issues like education and income inequality,” read a New York Times preview of the upcoming speech.
Nate Cohn, a number-crunching blogger for the Times, published a post on Obama’s rising approval numbers. “There is a well-established relationship between the pace of economic growth and a president’s approval ratings, and Mr. Obama is clearly benefiting from signs of accelerating economic growth,” Cohn wrote. “For the first time since the start of the recession, more Americans believe the economic conditions are good or excellent than poor. Consumer confidence rose to an 11-year high last week, according to the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.”
The Washington Post wrote that Obama will appear “defiant” of Congressional Republicans during his speech as he “rid[es] a wave of confidence driven by the improving economy and brightening public approval ratings.”
Somewhat less enthusiastic, USA Today anticipated that Obama will “focus on signs that the economy is recovering.”
But even reports and analysis from right-leaning outlets indicated Obama will have something to tout during his address, the sixth of his presidency. A large part of that is due to the results of a new poll commissioned by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News.
The poll showed that the public’s view of the economy has brightened and with it, Obama’s approval numbers.
“Mr. Obama’s overall approval rating has risen to 46%, up four points since just before his party suffered losses in November elections, and both pollsters saw prospects for the president’s standing to improve further if the economy continues to strengthen in the final quarter of his presidency,” read the Journal’s writeup of its own poll.
A Journal report ahead of the speech wrote assuredly of the economic recovery. “One of the biggest themes of Mr. Obama’s speech will be the strengthening economic recovery,” it said. “With the stock market up, [gross domestic product] growing and unemployment at new lows, Mr. Obama has began talking up the economy — a bit of legacy building from a president entering his final two years in office.”
A third report from the Journal, however, noted that despite signs of the improving economy, there still remains “economic anxiety” across the country.
Fox News generally takes a highly skeptical tone in its coverage of the Obama administration. Even so, the network’s anchor Bret Baier said in his preview of the address that Obama will “attempt to take credit for” an “improving economy.” He also said low gas prices, consumer optimism and spending will inspire Obama to “go ‘on offense’ against Republicans in Congress.”
A story on CNN.com was one of the few to offer up a vulnerability facing Obama ahead of the speech. “[Economic] benefits are mostly flowing to those who are already wealthy,” the story said.
Michael Grunwald, a senior writer for Politico Magazine, offered the most glowing assessment on the state of the union. “President Obama won’t declare Tuesday that the state of the union is awesome, but it’s better than the state of any other union, and it’s getting better every day,” he wrote.
