By using his State of the Union speech to draw sharp contrasts with Republicans on such high-profile issues as taxes and the housing market, President Obama opened an election-year debate on the role of government that could be more intense than any in decades.
Warning Congress that “I intend to fight obstruction with action,” he painted a confrontational picture that stands in sharp contrast with the conciliatory approach taken by the last Democrat to seek a second term, Bill Clinton.
In fact, Obama’s strategy more closely resembles that ofGeorge W. Bushin 2004, who used polarizing issues to increase turnout of his supporters and made few concessions to the center. The approach increases the chance that if he wins a second term, Obama could claim a mandate for his program. It also carries more risk of failure in a nation still deeply skeptical of government activism.
With his comment “I intend to fight obstruction with action,” I don’t think that is a warning. I think it is a statement that he could care less what the Constitution says, it is “his way or the highway”. Doesn’t he know that congress is a co-equal branch of our government? When is he going to realize that the United States is not a socialist dictatorship? This warfare with congress serves no purpose other than stirring up the division he has created with his class warfare rhetoric. What hapened to being the great uniter? What happened to having the “most transparent an open administration ever”?
1, that was my take on Obama’s comment too. Once this President and the Democrat enablers shred the Constitution, how can they appeal to it when they are in the minority? History seems to show that each President builds on the Constitutional usurpations of the previous Presidents and Congress abdicates more and more power.