The State Of The Union: Work, In Progress

Last night's State of the Union address was the kind of incredibly ambitious speech that few Presidents give to begin their second term. President Obama spoke in the tones of a man who knew he has the upper hand on virtually every major topic, from jobs and the economy, to immigration, gun safety, and climate change. From both the current polling, and the obvious fractures between the ridiculous GOP and "tea party" responses, the President's confidence was clearly justified.

The President's speech was, as expected, quite assertive. It was also exactly one hour - neither too long or too short.

It was clear from the beginning that President Obama's address this year would focus a great deal on work, jobs, and the middle class. In addition to mentioning jobs at the outset, he spoke the word "jobs" 45 times during the speech, turning the attention to jobs in virtually every subject.

The political right has long wailed about the deficit, even over the last few years as Americans have overwhelmingly been more concerned about jobs. President Obama knocked down that false meme tonight - hopefully for the last time - when he spoke about the budget, pointedly noting that under his watch, we've already cut the federal deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, through budget cuts as well as tax increases on the wealthiest. He also nailed the biggest problems in our current tax code, noting that common sense demands closing unneeded loopholes before we harm the poorest Americans.

The President also made the logical connection that, to help create more jobs in America, we must invest in America again, on items from infrastructure and clean energy, to how we finance our housing sector, to our education system. He hammered hard the fact that, from preschool to college, America needs to fix not just what and how we teach, but how we fund that education. The President also solidly addressed comprehensive immigration reform, and addressed the Senate's passage of the Violence Against Women Act, and the need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Then he did something unexpected.

The President called for a raise in the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour. Then President Obama pointedly noted that both he and he former Republican opponent Mitt Romney agreed: America's minimum wage should also be tied to the cost of living, to make it a real, true, living minimum wage.

The President then turned to the issue of war, confirming that "over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan," and that, by the end of 2014, the war there will be done. He further noted that Al-Qaeda is now a shadow of its former self, and that America also has other challenges. From trade with Europe, to diplomacy with Iran, to protecting us from cyberwarfare, to being more transparent about how we conduct our wars, the President made it clear through all of these challenges that our defenses would remain strong, for all Americans - even gay Americans - while we cut waste.

Finally, the President addressed one of the biggest issues - gun safety - and he made it clear to gun-happy extremists, like the NRA, that this issue is not going to fade away. They may not like all the gun safety proposals that will be presented in Congress - but for all those affected by gun violence, EVERY legitimate gun safety proposal deserves a vote.

There was a stark contrast. Some Republicans embarrassed themselves by not clapping for voting rights, not standing for veterans, and not even applauding the 102-year-old Florida woman who waited 3 hours and made two trips to cast her ballot last fall. On the other hand, President Obama's address this year was proudly, unabashedly progressive.

This could be seen and heard most clearly, near the end of his address, when he said, "We were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation, expand opportunity, and uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government."

That is what it truly means to choose progress - and, to our mind, what it means to be American citizens, at our best.

Responsibility & Abdication: The State Of The Union

Tonight, for the fifth time, President Obama will be giving his annual address on the state of our nation. Admittedly, like most of us in the political media, our staff gets pretty excited about this constitutionally mandated ritual.

Several media sources have already leaked information fed to them through various unnamed White House sources, outlining the topics President Obama will likely hit hardest, including infrastructure, energy, education, and nuclear proliferation.

In short, President Obama is going to be assertive, the proper adjective to describe a leader who is sick and tired of his governing partners abdicating their responsibilities, and isn't going to wait for them any longer.

While Republicans in Congress and many Republican voters have abdicated their duties to the President and to their fellow Americans, they haven't even had the courage or decency to formally announce their abdication, as Pope Benedict did on Monday when he resigned the Papacy.

It's quite possible some Republicans don't even realize they've abandoned their proper role on managing resources like our climate, or maintaining our national infrastructure. After all, the Republican Party can't even agree on a single rebuttal to President Obama's address, as both the wounded Republican Party, and the insane "tea party" wing of the GOP will each deliver their own twisted word salad after the President speaks.

The problem for those on the political right isn't just that they can't get along with each other.

Republicans are outwardly admitting that policies they've generated, and actively voted for - like the sequester - are "going to hurt a lot of people" as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor admitted on Sunday. Yet they want to push ahead, needlessly harming their fellow Americans, instead of fixing the real problems.

Congressional Democrats, while more responsible than their Republican colleagues, have also allowed those same GOP members to destroy the reputation of the United States as a beacon of democracy, by blocking Presidential nominations, and indeed attempting to block virtually any action by this President.

It should be obvious that Republicans have failed at leadership, failed at building a cohesive group, and failed at being a responsible opposition party - but it doesn't have to be that way.

As we hope President Obama will note tonight, our nation is strong and healthy, and continuing to get better under his leadership - though we are not as strong or as healthy as we could or should be.

If every American would work together, instead of some abdicating their responsibilities, we are certain our nation can be even better. a feeling we are certain is shared by our President.

Delivering The Future Of The Middle Class

With respect to one of our all-time favorite cartoon characters, Charlie Brown, he hasn't been the only one saying "Good Grief" lately.

The story surrounding the U.S. Postal Service's decision to cut Saturday delivery has cut to the heart of what most Americans believe, and still hope for. We touched on the topic ourselves just last Thursday, pointedly noting that reason the Postal Service is in such a position is because of actions taken by Republicans in the lame-duck session of Congress in 2006.

In the week where the President of The United States presents the State of The Union address to the entire nation, we can think of no better time to directly address why so many Americans have been stunned by what's happening to the United States Postal Service.

One reason is simple: our postal service is most of us, hard-working, middle class Americans.

The U.S. Postal Service has, for much of its existence, been an economic ladder for middle and lower class, blue-collar Americans, and for African Americans and armed forces veterans, especially. For Americans willing to work hard and be trustworthy, their long hours and loyalty to their neighbors and their jobs - especially during the kinds of weather that keep everyone else home -  have been repaid with the kind of decent pay and benefits that the corporate "leaders" in America long ago gutted from their contracts with most U.S. workers.

The U.S. Postal Service has also been the backbone upon which many of those same supposedly "self-made" titans of business have made their fortunes. Without the Postal Service, the hundreds of thousands of jobs at online retailers like Amazon, and more traditional retailers like Target and Wal-Mart would never have happened. Without the Postal Service, private shippers like Fed-Ex and UPS would also be dead in the water.

Still, many of those same private companies are now calling for nearly everything about the Postal Service to be privately contracted out - to them - except, of course, for the most important part of delivery: the last mile. It should be no surprise to anyone that the "last mile" - the portion of delivery that ends up at your door - is also the most expensive and least profitable part of the entire endeavor.

That the Wall Street corporatists want to keep the best and easiest earned profits from postal delivery for themselves, while sticking the American people with the bill for the most expensive part of the business should be no surprise, given the previously unprecedented level of dishonesty and selfishness shown by Wall Street "leaders" over the past few years. It should also be no surprise that no private corporation is willing to pay hard-working Americans a salary worthy of the sacrifices and responsibility being asked of our U.S. Postal Service workers.

President Obama will squarely lay out his case this week in his State of the Union address that it is now time, once again, for job growing investment in America.

After 35 months of positive economic growth, growth that ONLY the private sector was able to enjoy, we completely agree that it is time that America take on the responsible, sensible - some might even argue conservative - actions necessary to conserve those things which are at the very core of what it means to be an American citizen. The idea that hard work, loyalty, honesty, and integrity are keys to a middle class life, through jobs like those in the USPS, is chief among them.

There should be no argument that our constitutionally mandated U.S. Postal Service - and the ladder to middle class status it provides - is one of those great things about our nation which must be protected and conserved. It is as iconically, uniquely American as apple pie and Charlie Brown.