Obama will tell how his agenda helps
WASHINGTON - Seizing a chance to reconnect, President Obama will use his first State of the Union address to try to convince the people of a frustrated nation that he's on their side, with a familiar-sounding agenda recast to relate better to everyday struggles.
WASHINGTON - Seizing a chance to reconnect, President Obama will use his first State of the Union address to try to convince the people of a frustrated nation that he's on their side, with a familiar-sounding agenda recast to relate better to everyday struggles.
In a time of deep economic insecurity, Obama will use the big stage Wednesday to offer hope after a grueling, grinding first year in office, aides say. For the many who think the United States is on the wrong track, Obama will attempt to present a clearer sense of how everything he's pursuing fits together to help.
And for jittery Democrats facing reelection in the fall, Obama will seek to provide an agenda they can sell to voters.
Obama will propose ways to help the middle class. But any new ideas probably will play a supporting role to the narrative he wants to put across - that his agenda works for people despite their growing doubts.
"Obviously you want to write a speech in a way that is interesting enough that people want to listen, and that leaves them feeling a sense of momentum and progress," senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said. "But these are serious times. I don't think this is a time for rhetorical flights of fancy."
What to expect in the speech, which comes during a rocky period for Obama?
Heavy doses of health care, despite the setbacks of last week, and job creation. Obama will address the budget deficit, his bid to take on the financial industry, energy, education, immigration - all issues, he says, that fit into his plan to rebuild the economy.
On national security, he will address terrorist threats, the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea.
Recent big events won't go unremarked, such as Haiti's humanitarian crisis and the Supreme Court ruling allowing businesses and labor unions more latitude to influence elections. Obama will directly confront a seething frustration with Washington, evident in Republican Scott Brown's stunning Senate victory in Massachusetts that rattled Democrats and cost the president a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
It all points to the message Obama wants to convey: Yes, I get it.
Obama is emerging from a year in Washington that, he says, has left the public with a sense of "remoteness and detachment" from what he's been trying to do.
The president says his agenda is not about him. But in important ways, this speech will be.
Moments like this are opportunities for presidents to take or lose command. Obama's poll numbers on how he handles major issues have been dropping; fewer than half the people support his management of the economy, taxes, and other issues. Unemployment is in double digits, and fears of terrorism are rising.
To regain his footing, Obama is putting himself on the side of the people. He's challenging special interests on health care and banking. He's reminding people that while he got an economic-stimulus plan through, he bailed out Wall Street and the auto industry only by necessity.
Those familiar with the speech say it reflects Obama's tendency toward consistency and his opposition to reciting a laundry list of programs. "It's not going to be a series of disjointed offerings, poll-tested offerings," Axelrod said. "It's going to be a narrative about where he wants to lead, and why, and for whom."
Obama gave his speechwriters an outline of what he wanted, and has exchanged drafts. He was spending more time on it over the weekend, and will keep doing so until he steps before the nation on Wednesday night.
