2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPlease grade Pres. Obama's SOTU Speech
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F+
F
I would say A to A-
It was good. He put the rethugs in a multi-dimensional box.
Blaze Diem
(3,384 posts)Choosing one of their wise congressional leaders to respond, should keep them in their usual circular firing squad.
renie408
(9,854 posts)lapfog_1
(29,205 posts)ForgoTheConsequence
(4,868 posts)A+, knocked it out of the park. The guy I voted for and the guy I hope to see over the next 9 months.
RKP5637
(67,111 posts)MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)Just about none of what he spoke about will get done.
AnOhioan
(2,894 posts)gas and oil extraction...what about fracking does he think is "clean"?
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)DippyDem
(659 posts)Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)He was totally in control. I'm thrilled that we have a guy who can inspire.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)s-cubed
(1,385 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Best State of the Union of my lifetime, but fracking on public lands should not be allowed.
Other than that, perfect.
Other alternative energy production on federal land would be great, and he talked of that too.
Oh, on edit again, I do not agree with Obama on the payroll tax cut.
The payroll tax cut is a way to get around the government's obligation to the Social Security Trust Fund. It's bad for seniors. Republicans are going to use Social Security and Medicare for their campaign. Obama is not strong enough in defending those programs. He says he is, but he is not.
musicblind
(4,484 posts)I would say A+ but you can always do better at anything.
He did a great job, and I think he scared the shit out of the republicans. So definitely a solid A.
jillan
(39,451 posts)He went after the rich not paying their fair share of taxes and
he said that anyone that thinks America is worse off in the eyes of the world doesn't know what they are talking about
rocktivity
(44,576 posts)because he didn't call the Repugs a bunch of self-serving cruel greedy treasonous bastards!
rocktivity
one_voice
(20,043 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,794 posts)The minus is for the fracking issue - other than that, he gave the GOoPers a bigass kick in the face.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)a lot of brilliant common sense. imo
three thumbs up:
gateley
(62,683 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Optimistic, forcefully presented his policies.
Whoever said 'none of it will get done' I respectfully disagree.
Bob32
(9 posts)I give him an A for the speech, even if I disagree with most of it.
But if his past State of the Union's are an example:
[link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whitehouse/as-obama-approaches-state-of-the-union-many-promises-from-past-addresses-remain-unfulfilled/2012/01/23/gIQARVHNKQ_story.html|
There may be many promises that he doesn't fulfill.
Ok, someone please school the new guy on inserting a link. Don't see a FAQ anywhere?
grantcart
(53,061 posts)The frozen faces of Boehner, McCain, McConnell and Cantor while they struggled to figure out if they should clap or not showed how he once again, boxed them in.
Ravens Light
(11 posts)pretty good
now lets see if he actually does what he says he will and get back to those first 2 years with a democratic majority in congr... oh
I also like how he says there are no Americans left in Iraq while paying contractors, many of which are Americans, twice as much as army personnel to stay there.
Also woohoo 32,000 people out of Afghanistan by Summer.
Oh whats that, lots of those troops aren't coming home but instead being strategically placed around Iran "Just in case" while the President vows to keep a nation from getting any nukes because they are supposedly insane and suicidal? (BTW that interview where Ahmadinejad supposedly said he would wipe Israel off the map was highly edited and they cut out the part where he talked about Palestinian democracy.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I would say A-. I liked most of what he said. I was a little irked at the part about opening up off-shore drilling and exploring for natural gas. Fracking is really bad and something I'd like to see end. I did like that he pushed higher education which is so underfunded. Having Buffet's secretary there was a nice touch.
Anyone know of Buffet himself got a ticket?
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)PRETZEL
(3,245 posts)His highlights of his past accomplishments (Bin Laden, getting troops out of Iraq as examples) coming right up front set a pretty good tone. Following that up by basically calling the R's out for their obstructionism put him up early.
I thought his ideas on corporate tax reform and incentives for companies to grow domestic manufacturing and high tech job retraining programs is good policy. I hope that is one area where Congress can get their heads out of their asses and realize the long term benefits of programs like this will have.
His energy plans I'm not so high on, but I really feel it's a necessity. I'm not thrilled by the opening up of public lands for gas exploitation especially since fracking is the technology of the day. In this case, I'm not sure the ends justify the means.
What concerns me in his wish list was the unfunded mandates to the states, especially as it relates to education. Granted I totally support his position when it comes to demanding high quality education and skills training, but as many of us know who are currently trying to live under some of the current R governors, I can see this having some severe repucussions for other areas of need especially in the public welfare sectors.
Overall, very realistic SOTU both over the last year as well as a not so over the top agenda for the coming year.
greiner3
(5,214 posts)Mostly because he MADE the other side refuse to stand on some of the same ideas they supported in the past and MADE them stand and clap for several of the issues they are going to have to face in the elections.
I do not want to rewatch the entire speech and I did not take notes. For those who do not get my explanation of the above; Oops!
Great speech, but the fracking and natural gas hooplah left a bitter taste.
WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)the President gave away a great opportunity to win some over if he had at least tried
to explain:
1. "Obamacare" is HORRIBLE ....These people actually think that the country is just going to
give everyone who doesn't have health care 100% free health care.
2. "Obama is creating a welfare state" They think the government's biggest expense is
welfare and unemployment and more and more people are getting paid for doing nothing. In
reality, these costs are only 9% of the total budget with the percentage ticking down over the
coming years to 7%
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)WCGreen
(45,558 posts)I still think it was a very solid A.
We have to admit that the president is there to work out the interests of all the people and not just those who vote for them.
It seems the democrats get this while the republicans only play lip service to it...
Lost-in-FL
(7,093 posts)? once it is implemented. I sure as hell will be watching closely how that is going to turn out.