Newslinks for Wednesday Jan 25: Obama targets America's wealth creators in Left-leaning State of the Union
Posted on 01/25/2012Full text of speech | Video highlights | New York Times factcheck and analysis.
Did you think you had heard Obama's words before? 'You have' blogs The Weekly Standard.
The GOP response gets the thumbs up
- Full text of Daniels' response - Fox
- At NRO, Michael M. Uhlmann thinks Daniels' speech offered a template for how Republicans should defeat Obama - reasonable, serious but also witty.
- The American Spectator was also impressed with the Indiana Governor's response.
- Even Andrew Sullivan is positive: "It was that rare event when the GOP response surpassed the actual State of the Union. It was what a sane Republican critique of this presidency would be. It began with a grace note on Obama's courageous assault on bin Laden and the quiet dignity of his family life - avoiding the personal demonization of a well-liked president. There were several shrewd and helpful criticisms of his own side."
WATCH: Herman Cain delivers Tea Party Movement response to State of the Union, accusing Obama of "class warfare", "more excuses" and "little ideas"
Obama styles himself as the crusader against the wealthy and economic injustices
- "Cranking up the volume on the populist message that the wealthy should pay higher taxes, Obama said the goal of economic equality was a return to American values and “the defining issue of our time” - The Hill
- "Mr. Obama's laundry-list of initiatives—steep tax increases on wealthier Americans, fresh investigations into the mortgage crisis and support for domestic manufacturing—was aimed at buttressing a re-election message that posits him as defender of Americans beset by inequality in the tax code and broader economy." - WSJ
- Obama Urges Tougher Laws on Financial Fraud - New York Times
- It was a blue-collar State of the Union speech, aimed at the swing voters the president needs to woo - Doyle McManus at LA Times
- Mitch Daniels: "“No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others” (Quoted by WSJ)
- Obama's re-election campaign doubles down on class-war demagoguery - Michelle Malkin at TownHall
- "Barack Obama’s State of the Union is all about letting you know that government is going to do everything for you and when it can’t keep its promises, it will take from the successful and give to you" - RedState
Other SotU in brief:
- Obama makes repeated jabs at dysfunctional Congress - Roll Call
- Obama talks up natural gas development in State of the Union speech - LA Times
- State of the Union address barely mentions health care reform law - Politico
- Boehner hosts Keystone pipeline supporters for speech - Washington Times
- Gabrielle Giffords arrives at SotU to thunderous applause - Politico
- "The address made plain what has been increasingly obvious for some time. After flirting with the role of the reasonable centrist after his party’s defeat in 2010, President Obama has decided to run for re-election as a full-throated liberal populist." - Ross Douthat
- NPR agrees; when facing re-election Clinton moved to the center, Obama is moving to the Left.
- "There were some nice patriotic touches, a passel of small proposals, and old ideas like soaking the rich in President Obama’s State of the Union Address. But mostly the speech consisted of an effort to make a big deal out of not much." - Fred Barnes
- "All the tax increase he could stomach would not make a dent in the debt without meaningful entitlement control. In a line worthy of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, he hollered to cut defense and to instead nation-build at home. Eliminating the entire defense budget wouldn’t do the trick, given the rate at which he spends money." - Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post
- "State of the Union speech is full of soaring rhetoric but skips over some major challenges" - Washington Post
"The problem isn't that Mr. Romney is paying too little, but that Mr. Obama wants everyone but his voters and green business cronies to pay too much" - WSJ editorial
- Mitt Romney might consider ending a tax break that helped the former Massachusetts governor accumulate his fortune... but later in the day the Romney camp tried to step back from the suggestion - WSJ
- Romney didn't pay enough tithe to Mormon Church - Daily Caller
Pelosi: I know something about Gingrich that ensures he’ll never be president - HotAir
- What REALLY happened in the Gingrich ethics case - Washington Examiner
Nate Silver: Gingrich now favorite to win Florida - New York Times
Gingrich now enjoys the support of 52% of Tea Party voters - Weekly Standard
Republicans focused on House and Senate races are growing anxious that former Speaker Newt Gingrich might win the GOP presidential nomination - Roll Call
"Democrats can’t believe their luck!" - Left-winger Markos Moulitsas is enjoying the GOP bloodbath - The Hill
Abrams: Gingrich undermined Reagan
Elliott Abrams points out on NRO, Gingrich is fraudulent to present himself as a Reaganite: "As a new member of Congress in the Reagan years — and I was an assistant secretary of state — Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat Communism. Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan’s policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong."
John McCain joins chorus who believe record-breaking number of debates is hurting GOP - USA Today
Democrats enjoy 11% lead over Republicans in a generic ballot question asked to registered voters - Hotline
And finally... Obama wants you to think he's like Reagan but the Wall Street Journal compares Reagan's economic recovery with today's...
Roughly one out of eight Americans who presumably want to work, and were working before 2007, can’t find work today - Spengler
Capitalism will be rescued by more competition, not more of Obama's government red tape - PowerLine
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