Highbrow Magazine - state of the union address https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/state-union-address en The GOP’s Obstructionist Tactics Against the Obama Administration Escalate https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3492-gop-s-obstructionist-tactics-against-obama-administration-escalate <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 01/30/2014 - 11:09</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumObamaStateofUnion_4.jpg?itok=8cXIXeD9"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumObamaStateofUnion_4.jpg?itok=8cXIXeD9" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/01/gop-again-spins-bogus-line-of-obama-the-dictator.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p> </p> <p>The day before President Obama’s fifth State of the Union Address, Valerie Jarrett, assistant to the president, bluntly told this writer in an exclusive interview that Obama would not hesitate to use the power of his pen to get action on vital initiatives that he feels should be passed. At the same moment that Jarrett declared Obama would take action to attempt to break the GOP’s torpedo of vital legislation backed by the White House, House Speaker John Boehner was equally blunt and saber-rattled Obama that he’d better not think of taking unilateral action on legislation or else. Boehner didn’t spell out what the “or else” would be. There was really no need, because Boehner – as a troupe of GOP Obama bashers before him – is again cynically spinning the bogus line that Obama is recklessly usurping the Constitution by skirting Congress and going it alone on passing legislation.</p> <p> </p> <p>Obama is near the bottom on the list of presidents in the number of executive orders issued. The last president who issued orders at a lower rate than Obama was Grover Cleveland. GOP Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush issued far more executive orders per day in office than Obama. It’s not really the number or rate of executive orders, however, that Obama has issued that’s raised the hackles of the GOP. It’s the executive orders that he has issued that have given the GOP ammunition to attempt to intimidate and politically bash Obama.</p> <p> </p> <p>The GOP saw an opening to raise the canard of Obama as the alleged Constitutional and congressional usurper when he signed a series of orders on gun control nearly a year ago. Obama took the action precisely because he knew that gun control legislation was a virtual dead letter in Congress at the time and that there was almost no chance that things would change given the iron grip that the NRA has on Congress. Obama would have had to spend precious time, energy, and resources jawboning anti-gun control congressional Democrats, wage an all-out battle with the gun lobby, and the NRA, and risk losing the political momentum that he needed to do battle with GOP congressional obstructionists in the battles over the debt ceiling, spending cuts, and deficit reduction.</p> <p> </p> <p>The executive orders on gun checks were, as executive orders go, a last resort and piecemeal attempt to at least get something on the books on guns. Obama was under no illusion that the executive orders on guns could in any way take the place of comprehensive gun control legislation. Only Congress can pass a gun control law that would have the full force of law behind it.</p> <p> </p> <p>Obama, as most presidents, knows that the whimsical or cavalier use of executive orders to bypass Congress or to legislate from the Oval Office not only will trigger a powerful public backlash and reinforce the opposition’s usual charge of dictatorial abuse, but can and often have been overturned by Congress, which has the power to change (in this case scrap) an executive order. The courts also have the same power. And there have been times when the courts have declared an executive order unconstitutional or simply vacated the orders.</p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1Republicans%20%28House%20GOP%20Leader%20Flickr%29.jpg" style="height:426px; width:640px" /></p> <p>That’s not all. An executive order issued by one president is not even safe from another president. The textbook example of the transitory nature of an executive order is the so-called Mexico City Policy that required all non-governmental organizations that receive federal funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services as a form of family planning in other countries. Reagan issued the executive order in 1984. Clinton overturned it in 1993. Bush reinstated it and Obama rescinded it as one of his first acts when he took office in January 2009.</p> <p> </p> <p>The ultimate proof of the severe limits of what an executive order can actually accomplish is the executive order that Obama said he’d issue and the GOP’s cynical and contradictory response to it. The GOP adamantly opposes Obama’s proposal to hike the minimum wage. The executive order he’ll issue boosting the minimum wage extends only to new federal contracts issued and then only if other terms of a contractual agreement change. Boehner apparently suffered momentary amnesia from his full throated rip of Obama as a tyrant in the use of executive orders when he quipped that this executive order would have near zero effect.</p> <p> </p> <p>Obama’s vow to wield the executive pen whenever and wherever he thinks he must amounts to a frontal challenge to the GOP to cease its relentless, dogged, and destructive campaign of dither, delay, denial, and obstructionism to anything that has the White House stamp on it. The GOP knows this but that won’t stop it from eagerly spinning its politically self-serving line of Obama the dictator. The aim as always is to tar him as a ruthless and ineffectual leader while painting itself as the supposed responsible guardian of the constitutional process and thus an innocent victim of a Democratic president’s legal abuse.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KTYM Radio Los Angeles and on the Pacifica Network. </em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama administration</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/executive-order" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">executive order</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gun-control" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">gun control</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/economy-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the economy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/john-bohener" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">john bohener</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/state-union-address" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">state of the union address</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bill-clinton" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bill Clinton</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/george-w-bush" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">George W. Bush</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media; House GOP Leader (Flickr)</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 30 Jan 2014 16:09:09 +0000 tara 4213 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3492-gop-s-obstructionist-tactics-against-obama-administration-escalate#comments What to Expect From Republicans in Response to Obama’s State of Union Address https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2132-what-expect-republicans-response-obama-s-state-union-address <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 02/12/2013 - 10:42</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumObamaStateofUnion_2.jpg?itok=2tIoLjJo"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumObamaStateofUnion_2.jpg?itok=2tIoLjJo" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/02/president-obamas-state-of-the-union-speech-under-fire-again.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> The GOP’s response to President Obama's first post re-election State of the Union Address in some ways will be markedly different than in its response to his prior addresses. But in one way it will be the same. Its blatant frontal assault on him didn’t work for four years. So this time the GOP’s rebuttal will be softer and gentler in tone and theme.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But underneath the flowery rhetoric, the GOP’s relentless attack on his policies is still very much in place.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The party that is desperately trying to find some way, anyway, to rebound from the November losses, is banking on their rising star Florida Senator Marco Rubio to soft sell its attack ploy. Rubio will hit the usual GOP fallback themes of freedom, liberty, and free enterprise, restrained spending, and add a new wrinkle, responsible immigration reform.</p> <p>  </p> <p> These aren’t exactly code words and terms, but they’re close enough in that they subtly reinforce the ingrained notion of millions of Obama opponents and critics that he is an unreconstructed leftist, tax and spend, big government, anti-business Democrat. This attack line is very predictable.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The State of the Union speech is always one of the most watched and listened to political speeches. It's a president's report card on the accomplishments, the present and future planned initiatives of his administration and his vision for the country.</p> <p>  </p> <p> GOP and Democratic presidents are keenly aware that their Democratic and Republican opponents know that State of the Union Addresses boost the stature, prestige, and power of the presidency, and usually bumps up the president's approval rating by a point or two. They also know that the opposition's response to the speech is feeble, pale, and little watched or counted by Americans.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The history of the State of the Union speech underscores the power to shape policy and bolster the president's image.</p> <p>  </p> <p> President James Monroe announced the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln flatly called for the end of slavery in the rebellious states. This was the prelude to the Emancipation Proclamation he issued a year later. Woodrow Wilson warned of the dangers of impending war in 1913. Franklin Roosevelt outlined the famed Four Freedoms in 1941. Lyndon Johnson unveiled the outlines of his Great Society program to fight poverty in 1965. Bill Clinton unveiled his health care reform plan in 1993. George Bush in his State of the Union speeches in 2002 and 2003 prepped the nation for the Iraq invasion.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Presidents quickly latched onto the media to give their State of the Union speech more exposure and political wallop. Calvin Coolidge gave the first radio broadcast in 1923. Truman gave the first televised broadcast in 1947.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The GOP’s attacks on Obama’s State of the Union address are not new. They hit their shrillest level with his second State on of the Union address in January 2010. GOP critics leveled all sorts of absurd charges against him before he even uttered a word of his speech.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumMarcoRubio%20%28NAM%29.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 335px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> His first State of the Union Address was hardly spared from withering GOP criticism either. The GOP harangued him for allegedly lashing out at Republicans.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <em>Business Insider</em> headlined its SOTU piece with the question, "A Less Partisan State of the Union Speech?" It scolded Obama for his criticism of the Supreme Court for its conservative majority decision in Citizens United in 2010. The decision opened the floodgate for corporations to pour unlimited dollars into elections with minimal checks and accountability. Major corporations and financial institutions wasted little time in doing that. They poured millions into the midterm election campaigns. The bulk of money as Obama and the Democrats knew went to ads for corporate-friendly GOP candidates and incumbents.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Obama pretty much tipped what he will say this year to a gathering of House Democrats. The centerpiece will be the looming battle over what and how big the GOP-demanded budget cuts should be. A part of that will be to extend the olive branch to obstructionist and intransigent House Republicans to get them to work out a deal to avoid fiscal gridlock.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But making nice with the GOP won’t stop it from again turning the tables and ripping him for allegedly being a polarizing, divisive leader. Former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels did exactly that in his rebuttal speech in 2012 again.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But Obama, as in his annual addresses in the past, is on firm ground in that Americans still overwhelmingly want him and Congress to end the rancor and work together to resolve the crucial problems and issues that face the nation.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Obama will say that and so will the GOP. The difference is that one will really mean it the other won’t. And the other that won’t is not the president.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network, and KTYM Radio Los Angeles.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/02/president-obamas-state-of-the-union-speech-under-fire-again.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/state-union-address" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">state of the union address</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/marco-rubio" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">marco rubio</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republican-response" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">republican response</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/unemployment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">unemployment</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/medicare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">medicare</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/social-security" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Social Security</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tax-cuts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tax cuts</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/economy-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the economy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:42:55 +0000 tara 2348 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2132-what-expect-republicans-response-obama-s-state-union-address#comments