Last week was a very busy one in politics. On Wednesday, President Obama gave his first State of the Union Address. Given the tough political climate, it was clearly an important speech, and the president and his team were well prepared, shifting the focus to jobs and the economy. Health care reform wasn’t even mentioned until after the first half hour, but Obama still urged Congress not to give up on it yet. He made a lot of swings at the Republicans and took some jabs at his own party as well, challenging both parties to lead the country. He surprisingly made a direct mention of the Supreme Court and its decision on federal election spending, which usually does not happen in political speeches. (Not to be outdone, Justice Alito reacted visibly, which was not supposed to happen as well.) Obama also spent a lot of time talking about the culture of Washington and what it needs to clean up: the permanent election, playing politics with Senate confirmation of public officials, zero-sum game mentality, and the general cynicism and disillusionment these problems create.
One could sense that President Obama was frustrated with Congress, and perhaps that’s not a bad thing given that he’s often criticized for not showing enough emotion or fight. If his critics wanted more, President Obama gave a speech to the Republican party at their retreat in Maryland and offered a question-and-answer time. “President’s Question Time” as it’s been called is similar to a practice in British Parliament in which the Prime Minister takes questions from the opposition party, basically a weekly debate between the parties. Obama has generated a lot of buzz with his visit to the Republicans, as pundits generally agree that the President nailed it, proving his knowledge on a many crucial issues and presenting his position very well on everything the 100+ Republican members of Congress threw at him.
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