It’s Official: Obama Moves Toward the Center

It’s Official: Obama Moves Toward the Center

Printer-friendly version
a a
 
Type Size: Small

The goal of every first-term president is to secure a second term. When Republicans made huge gains in the mid-term elections last November, President Barack Obama referred to it as a “shellacking.” That must have made the president realize that if he wanted to get reelected he had to move toward the center, which is exactly what he did last night when he delivered the much anticipated State of the Union address.

To be sure, there was plenty of fodder for the liberals, yet the president also included a few tidbits to please even the staunchest conservative. To get the economy moving, the president proposed a four-pronged strategy that stresses innovation, education, infrastructure spending, and debt reduction.

No one would argue that the federal debt isn’t too high. The president reminded us that we got to this point through years of deficit spending, but he also took his share of responsibility by mentioning his administration’s efforts to stimulate the economy. Since the unemployment rate remains well above the White House’s own projections, we can conclude that those efforts have largely failed. Of course, the president would never admit to that. He does agree, however, that the spending must be brought under control. “Our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable,” he said.

True to form, to help bring more in, he wants to raise tax rates on wealthier Americans. That is no surprise. Yet it was a little surprising to hear him speak so passionately about spending cuts. He said he has frozen salaries for federal employees and he proposed freezing some domestic spending for five years. And he stressed that these measures were not nearly enough. He proposed spending cuts for Medicaid and Medicare, and in a remarkable concession to the right, he even called for “medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits.” Sounding more like Steve Forbes than Nancy Pelosi, President Obama called for simplifying the tax code.

There was more evidence that the president has moved toward the center. At one point, he sounded like a free trader. He talked about recent trade agreements with India, China, and South Korea and said they will create 320,000 jobs for Americans. He urged Congress to approve these agreements. He also spoke about the need to review government regulations that prevent economic growth by imposing unnecessary burdens on businesses.

Yet liberals need not fear that the president has crossed party lines. In many ways, he envisions a bigger role for government. He wants to increase infrastructure spending and he wants to subsidize investments in renewable energy. He also strongly defended his new health-care law, which House Republicans recently voted to overturn.

No doubt, Republicans were hoping for more from the president’s speech. A call to eliminate taxes on the repatriation of foreign profits would have been extremely welcome. The president made no mention of that. Nonetheless, the speech was a big improvement over the one last year, when he directly attacked members of the Supreme Court for a decision on campaign financing. At least this time, he seemed to reach out his hand. Now it’s the Republicans’ turn to show they, too, can work with the other side.

Click here to visit the Business Buzz home page.