Obama’s SOTU made clear that the world is no longer America’s problem
Spoiler alert: Barack Obama might still be a consequential foreign-policy president if he’s lucky, willful, and skillful. But it’s his domestic legacy that will make or break his presidency. Health care — his signature legacy issue — will look much better if the economy improves, driven by a revived housing market and rising employment, and of course if some broader deal can be struck on entitlements and taxes. Immigration reform and gun-control legislation driven by a functional bipartisanship would cement that legacy. He’d be an historic rather than a great president.
Two clocks tick down in a president’s second term: the drive for legacy and the reality of lame duckery. Obama’s political capital will diminish quickly. Where, how, and on what he wants to spend it is critical. The Middle East is violent and volatile and may yet suck him in, but if he can avoid it, he’ll try. This was a State of the Union address that stressed fixing America’s broken house, not chasing around the world trying to fix everyone else’s. The future of America isn’t Cairo or Damascus; it’s Chicago and Detroit.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Sad thing is, Cairo and Damascus are currently safer than Chicago and Detroit.
Bishop on February 13, 2013 at 8:11 PM
Obama’s actions over the last 4 years made clear that America is no longer his problem.
BigWyo on February 13, 2013 at 8:11 PM
If you caught it, he giggled in the SOTU at the mention of shovel-ready jobs because, you know, he said they were there, and they weren’t, so he laughed at that recognition. So he thinks that’s funny. So he doesn’t care about jobs. He doesn’t care about the rest of the world. So what DOES he care about?
/maybe he just cares about himself.
Paul-Cincy on February 13, 2013 at 8:12 PM
No. What, really? Bark giggled over that line? With all these people out here losing everything in the Dog Eater’s economy?
What a jackass.
Bishop on February 13, 2013 at 8:18 PM
Sure, that will work real well when the world has decided that America is it’s problem.
Count to 10 on February 13, 2013 at 8:27 PM
Unfortunately Obama is America’s problem.
wildcat72 on February 13, 2013 at 8:39 PM
It just amazes me how many complete idiots there are in high places.
WisCon on February 13, 2013 at 8:46 PM
It is truly sickening to see people paid to write this. They act as if Obama has had no hand in the messes in the Middle East.
cntrlfrk on February 13, 2013 at 8:54 PM
And maybe I’ll hit the Powerball, and… gain the Princess of Mars as a concubine.
(But I’m not holding my breath, even I can discern fantasy from reality… unlike our betters.)
CPT. Charles on February 13, 2013 at 8:58 PM
Well, that’s how I saw it. There’s a big joke for years about “shovel ready jobs” and the failure of the stimulus. In Cincinnati, we have a desperate need for a multi-billion dollar bridge over the Ohio River, for over a decade. It’s not happening.
Listen carefully to these 15 seconds, and watch, where he talks about “ribbon-cutting”. Shovel ready is a joke, and Obama knows it’s a joke, and the audience knows it’s a joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKwE2EGsfMk
23:25 – 23:40
And I know you want these job-creating projects in your district; I’ve seen all those ribbon- cuttings.
(LAUGHTER)
Biden, in charge of the stimulus, looks like he’s going to be sick, while Boehner is suppressing a chuckle, look at the smirk on his face. He’s thinking, “ribbon-cutting, my ass. shovel-ready is a crock”.
Paul-Cincy on February 13, 2013 at 8:59 PM
And just what makes you think that he regards them as ‘messes’?
CPT. Charles on February 13, 2013 at 9:00 PM
Charles Lindbergh said essentially the same thing in the 1930s. So did many others. FDR didn’t. It was about the only thing he got right.
farsighted on February 13, 2013 at 10:51 PM
Let’s rewind and reword that..
“The future of America isn’t Berlin or Tokyo”.
farsighted on February 13, 2013 at 11:11 PM