After a midterm election cycle that humbled the Democratic party and gave Republicans control of Congress, President Obama pointed to one bright spot in his State of the Union address with an off-script reminder that he won two terms as president.
“I have no more campaigns to run,” Obama said toward the conclusion of his speech, as he tried to strike a cooperative tone.
But when Republicans applauded, the president ad-libbed. “I won both of them,” he said, to roars of approval from Democrats.
The ad-lib quickly took off on the Internet, but it was the scripted comment that mattered: Obama won’t be on the ticket in 2016, and the next two years will determine not only his legacy as president but the course of politics for years to come.
In his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, as President Obama laid the foundation for the final two years of his presidency, those political discussions that could shape the 2016 election cycle began to take shape.
Even as he stressed bipartisan collaboration in pursuit of “a better politics,” the president did not present a conciliatory policy vision. Instead, he laid out a “broad vision” geared toward the Democratic base: calling for a higher minimum wage, equal pay for women and better childcare, and lauding what he described as the achievements of the Affordable Care Act. At the same time, Obama vowed to veto some Republican priorities — rare for a State of the Union address.
Republicans took note of the president’s play to the base.
“Instead of working with Republicans on bipartisan initiatives that are popular with the American people, he’s taking the same old go-it-alone approach on policy that has defined his presidency,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.
Mitt Romney, who is flirting with a third bid for president after losing to Obama in 2012, called the speech “disappointing” and “a missed opportunity to lead.”
“True to form, the president in his State of the Union speech is more interested in politics than in leadership,” Romney said. “More intent on winning elections than on winning progress, he ignores the fact that the country has elected a Congress that favors smaller government and lower taxes.”
In emphasizing some long-held Democratic priorities rather than hinting at concessions or compromise, Obama might have been looking not only to burnish his own legacy, but to set up the next election cycle for a Democrat, likely Hillary Clinton, to succeed him as president.
It’s unclear how Obama’s nod to the left will help or hurt his would-be successor. Clinton, a longtime establishmentarian, is struggling to persuade Democrats that she shares the redistributive economic views espoused by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the favorite politician of the party’s far left base.
But Clinton and Warren both responded positively to Obama’s populist economic themes, suggesting they will factor significantly into the 2016 presidential race no matter who the party chooses as its nominee.
“Middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works,” Obama said. “And these policies will continue to work, as long as politics don’t get in the way.”
Clinton tweeted that the speech “pointed [the] way to an economy that works for all.”
“Now we need to step up and deliver for the middle class,” Clinton added.
Republicans and Democrats vying for the presidency still disagree profoundly on the means to that end, a divide that will play out in the presidential election to come.
For example, the president’s plan to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for free community college was immediately panned by Republicans.
“It’s unfortunate President Obama wants to use the tax code to divide us — instead of proposing reforms to create economic opportunity for every American,” said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has been moving toward a bid for president. “We can do better.”
The president’s remarks set the tone for negotiations this year between Obama and congressional Republicans — and offered a dreary outlook. What legislative progress lawmakers do or do not make could have implications into the 2016 presidential election cycle, depending on whom Americans credit or blame.
Potential Republican presidential candidates who serve in Congress began to put the onus on Obama, making it clear they are not optimistic that Obama will be open to compromise.
“Tonight the President told the American voters not only does he not hear their message, but he intends to do precisely the opposite,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “He intends to double down on the failed policies of the last six years.”
The speech provided a platform for a host of other potential Republican presidential candidates.
Sen. Marco Rubio offered implicit but stark criticism of the president’s decision to restore relations with Cuba by bringing Rosa María Payá, a Cuban dissident, as his guest to the speech. And Sen. Rand Paul delivered his own response to the president on YouTube following the address.
Amid all of the posturing in advance of 2016, it was perhaps fitting that the president even panned politics itself, including lawmakers “arguing past each other on cable news shows, the constant fundraising, always looking over your shoulder at how the base will react to every decision.”
“Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns,” Obama said.
