State of the union - open thread

President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, he signed a bill to expand veteran benefits, he signed kids tobacco legislation, he signed a land protection act, & SCHIP, gave the Cairo speech to the Muslim world & has represented our country abroad (Europe seems to be pretty fond of him for the most part), he oversees an EPA that has shown it is willing to get tough on environmental issues via regulation if the congress won’t via legislation, he gave a widely watched education speech, he's advocated for science in our schools, & is for stem cell research, he's appointed a supreme court justice, he's ended torture, respects the Geneva Convention, and has plans to close Gitmo (albeit behind schedule after responding to facts on the ground), he's going to have us out of Iraq next year and starting to pulling out of Afghanistan (the one that actually attacked us) at the same time.

And since he gets a hard time on gay rights (& deservedly so) , here is a section on what he has done so far. On the gay rights from he has signed legislation such as the hate crimes bill, and ryan white care act, he has lifted the travel/immigration ban based on HIV status earlier this month, he has expanded federal benefits to gay spouses which is the largest employer in the US & in some sense sets the tone for many other employers, he's invited gay couples to public white house family holiday events (& to the State of the Union, the guest list even mentions a gay couple adopting), he's appointed openly gay officials as well as gay ambassadors. He's called for the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell on the campaign trail, again after taking office during the National Equality March weekend, and said (although he should certainly say it louder & more often) he would sign legislation relating to repealing DADT, the repealing of the Defense of Marriage Act, & enacting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

And then of course there is all the day to day of meetings & running the country. All of this without mentioning any health care reform efforts or economic recovery efforts which are the areas that have seen the most work. And it wasn’t just keeping Wall Street from collapsing, but cash for clunkers which had an economic and environmental aspect to it, and first time home buyer subsidies, and so on. Combine that with recent efforts to get money back from the banks, and recent efforts to fight corporate rule, & the SCOTUS decision and I think he has more than a few important accomplishments.

And, yet, he is seen on many sides as being weak and as having accomplished little-to-nothing.

Sometimes it is not about the effort but about the outcome of the effort. And, sometimes it is not about good legislation that affects just a comparative few. Sometimes it is about making sure there is at least the appearance of having success in what is important to the masses.

Gay rights and DADT and enacting the Employment Disciscrimination Act etc. are excellent causes and near and dear to your and my heart. They just are not what mainstream America sees as priority one right now.

Obama is being judged currently by his efforts to reduce unemployment numbers and reduce the budget deficit and to keep our country safe from terrorists and, well, you get the point.

Do not take me wrong here. I am on board with much of what you have said. Just as most of us must set priorities in our own lives, so must those that lead our government set priorities in their leadership for America.

without trying to write about it until later, if at all. This is a big deal.

A friend game me some advice on tuning in. She said, "Listen for possibility. Listen for what can work. Lean forward."

That seems like good advice.

Peace.

Abroad, America's greatest source of strength has always been our ideals. The same is true at home. We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it; that if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else.

We must continually renew this promise. My Administration has a Civil Rights Division that is once again prosecuting civil rights violations and employment discrimination. We finally strengthened our laws to protect against crimes driven by hate. This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.

I'm happy he said that, I bolded the 2 of the most important words in that segment.

but Rep. Larry Kissell had quite the spotlight moment.

The most interesting part of the spectacle was the TV cameras giving us a glimpse of our Congressmen and women without their TV make-up and on-the-stump smiles. It was an appalling sight. I suppose feeding at the public trough for years and having inordinately high feelings of superiority will make one look fat, disinterested, and somewhat dissolute. Boehner looked like a tanned toad wearing a purple tie.

...with a few targeted zingers - but I'd love to hear a little more populist fight.

The instant poll numbers immediately after the speech were very good. It seems to have been regarded very positively by the public as a whole. Those of us with definite partisan leanings can be expected to view it positively. It's good to see that real people seem to have responded positively too.

I thought he was too conciliatory. Too gentle. I wanted to see him rip into some people and pound the lectern some. I'm sick of this "reach across the aisle" attitude. The people across the aisle couldn't care less about helping the U.S. move forward, all they want is to submarine whatever Obama sets out to do. Why are we even giving them any airtime. We should take advantage of our numbers while we still have them.

Frankly, I want Obama to get nasty.

I am surprised this has not hit the blogosphere yet.

It is getting humorous.

Do not know if it is true or not. But, who gives a crap and what difference does it make? Good Gawd Y'all !!