The State of the Union address that President Obama delivered on Tuesday is a lesson in American politics 101: so much was laid bare.
First, I should explain what the State of the Union actually is. Section 2 part 3 of the American Constitution reads: "He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient... " This constitutional clause mandates the President to outline the "measures" that he believes are critical to the governing of the country.
Obama made a bold declaration about the State of the Union. He said: "The shadow of crisis is passed and the state of the union is strong." Now if I were teaching a course in American politics I would put this statement to the test.
In his speech, Obama used indicators to make his case about the American recovery: the fastest pace of economic growth in the U.S. since 1999; a lower rate of unemployment than before the financial crisis; higher graduation rates; more people insured than ever before; being free from the grip of foreign oil; and the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan. Now these might seem like a reasonable choice of indicators but a critical analysis should lead us to ask, "Which indicators have not been used?"
For example, it would be interesting to know what the gap is between the rich and poor in America. In a Harvard University study it was shown that Americans are blithely unaware of the real gap between the wealthiest and the poorest. In fact more than 80 per cent of the wealth in the U.S. belongs to 20 per cent of the population.
Obama's call to restore the "middle class economy" was actually a call to pull the poorest out of untenable economic condition. He focused on the story of one family in which the husband/ father lost his construction job and the wife/mother had to go to school to re-train. In fact, she really went to school to train because her first job was as a waitress.
In some places in the U.S. the minimum wage for a person who can receive tips is $2.13 an hour. One of the ideas that Obama laid out in the speech was increasing the minimum wage and he treated the idea as a challenge to the Republican Congress. He said, "If you believe you can live on $15,000... try it."
You may wonder what keeps one of the smartest and richest countries in the world from investing in their citizen's health and education. Well the answer, at least in part, is that the union is not strong and there remains a most unrealistic belief in the American Dream: that anyone can become rich and that it is only a matter of asserting oneself in the market. Even Democrats who support the idea of creating a more level playing field by offering state programs still "buy" (literally and figuratively) the message of the dream.
I once said in a column that in the U.S. personal responsibility is the hallmark of liberty and ultimately Americans seem to have little sense of common purpose in their civil society.
Obama should have said that the state of the union is tenuous because his call to Congress to play nice and to move forward with the initiatives he recommended in the speech reveals the truth of American politics. Knowing the current polarization one can assume that none of the initiatives will get moved into viable bills.
Jodi Ernst spoke for the Republicans and she didn't want to talk about the speech or the "Measures put forward for Consideration". She wanted to talk about her parents and her grandparents: "... they showed me that you don't need to come from wealth or privilege to make a difference. You just need the freedom to dream big, and a whole lot of hard work." What she fails to say is that her parents and her grandparents grew up in a different type of economy and in a different world order.
The state of the American union is not sound and it won't get better as long as people believe that anyone can get rich in America. One could argue that despite some success stories, by and large the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and the income inequality is undermining the economy and the state of the union.
