Move Along, Nothing To See

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

They say the State of the Union address is less about the state of the union and more about what’s on the president’s mind. That works for me. Always good to know how the political leadership is thinking about things. When George Bush gave us his yearly offerings, he was usually wrapped in the proverbial flag, carrying the proverbial Bible and speaking very carefully to pronounce all the words correctly.

George was a pretty canny customer but no intellectual, and after the first speech, we didn’t expect him to be. Those on the left found him arrogant and irrational, while those in his fold admired his apparent sincerity. Dubya’s hyperbole always seemed to include God’s intention to liberate the whole world to a preordained future as good Christian capitalists. God was Dubya’s advisor, and he mostly used words His followers would understand. If we were not on the same page, George pretended we didn’t exist.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, knows how to turn a phrase and wouldn’t dream of leaving anyone out. This year the legislators decided, in the interest of civility, not to sit in partisan blocks but rather to mix it up with those across the aisle, making it a little tough for viewers to know how to react. Even the politicians seemed confused. John Boehner, seated behind the president — Number 3 in government, along with Number 2, Joe Biden — clapped regularly, probably breaking faith with some of the more dour leadership. John cried at least one time and clapped often; his applause was not encouraging to the left.

The State of the Union this year was reportedly very business-friendly. The reason is simple enough: Obama is on the stump. Whatever progressive things might happen during any Dem term traditionally happen in the first two years; the next two will be more about circling the wagons and getting the wranglers well positioned for the coming assault. Ignoring most other accomplishments, the country is calling for jobs, jobs, jobs, but for the most part, jobs have gone north, south, east and west, across the big pond and out of sight. None of us want to hear that they aren’t coming back. We don’t want to hear about retraining or growing a new workforce for a new century. We have to feed our families now, pay our rent now — find a job to keep body and soul together right this very minute. That’s not something Obama can provide us, but he has a better chance of encouraging job creation if he can move the nation to confidence. That was the gambit on Tuesday night, and we must now wait to see the result.

Obama’s speech is being called Hope 2.0. I take a bit of comfort in that. This is an establishment president, after all, who closely follows the rules of the game. As much as he wishes to soothe and encourage the nation, I don’t think he’s dishonest in the way that many before him have been. If he’s hopeful, there are solid underpinnings to count on and worthwhile possibilities to build on. In truth, Wall Street is flush again, banks are fat with cash but refuse to lend, so business isn’t risking new hires and the public isn’t spending. Obama tried to reassure us with a dose of hope.

Too many people are telling us there isn’t any hope, no balance ahead, no future that isn’t a downward trajectory. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but if it’s all over but the shouting, which I doubt, Obama’s well-crafted message would have reflected more emergency, not less. If the projection is as dismal as that proposed by Paul Ryan, full of dire predictions and plans for bone-crunching austerity, or Michelle Bachmann’s fairy tale scenario of the Democrats’ soulless socialism, then all is, indeed, lost. But if we listen with a practiced ear, we can hear the same kind of red alert warnings that gave us the jitters after 9-11 and spun us up just before the launch of Shock and Awe; which is to say, Republican Mind-Fuck 101, as reflected through the annals of GOP history. They love a good emergency; it gets the juices flowing, makes the natives restless and quick on the trigger.

Which isn’t to say we aren’t in trouble, of course. We surely haven’t come far enough to curtail big banks, defeat lobbyists, close corporate loopholes, or regulate a thousand errant rules that wound us. We’ve only just begun to notice all that ails us. And I can testify that if I had my druthers, I, like Robert Reich, would have the president be more candid about  class disparity, about the stranglehold of big business, about irrational rhetoric. I’d love to see him lower the hammer on corporations, on banksters, on obstructers. I’d love to see a little whoop-ass now and then.

But I ask you — do you think it would be wise to poke the vipers with a sharp stick right now, when they have the very old, the very white and the very paranoid up in arms? Are you ready for another fire-storm like the one that burned brightly when Obama mentioned bitter country folk clinging to guns and religion? Can you image John Edwards’ “Two Americas” speech coming out of Obama’s mouth without causing blowback from a terrified demographic locked and loaded over the angry Black man who rode into the White House on the ACORN Express? You think Tucson was bad?

This president walks carefully for a whole litany of complicated reasons. Still, regardless of what Obama did or didn’t include in this speech, we’ve got to admit he looked like the only calm, level-headed adult in the room, the one who could work with anyone. Given the kind of hysteria we hear daily, that’s an attractive and welcome attribute. As well, the points he presented seemed suddenly quite progressive, compared to what the opposition proposed.

The GOP offered their usual rebuttal, and this year we were treated to another by the Baggers, broadcast on CNN. The take-away from these competing speeches was a pretty clear choice for the American public: either the small, radically pruned government proposed by the traditional GOP, the Christian purist version advanced by the Tea Party, or the revamped, reformed government proposed by the Democrats. None of them move too far off the establishment ley lines, of course, but they do exist on what passes for the far ends of them these days, opposing one another. While that may rankle with a far left that feels it has no representative here, despite the hype, Obama did not back up on foundations he’d already laid nor retreat on projects like green energy, education and infrastructure.

We’re in something of a cosmic holding pattern, but the changes that are ahead for this nation have, I believe, less to do with politicians than we suppose. Some people think Obama has dropped the ball in this left/right conflict, been too cozy with the other side, needs to remember his progressive roots. I think Obama is a bit of an exotic, like someone with a rare blood type: he runs a little cooler, responds a tad differently from the majority of us. He drops a little behind, moves a little ahead, but seldom trots along with the herd. He’s configured not to confront, even as the rest of us are begging for such an opportunity. He will head-butt if he has to, but he does not consider that productive, and in these times, he may be right.

Perhaps this is a moment when we might consider that what has always worked before is no longer how best to proceed. Perhaps there’s a new way we haven’t tried yet. I think that events most politicians did not foresee, that the public did not imagine, that bubble up, seemingly from out of nowhere — those are usually the things that shake us awake. Meanwhile, the political persona of this nation is being jolted into awareness about what is valuable to humanity and important to sustaining life.

So we can move along, not much to see this week. We gained little ground, but lost little, either. It was, by virtue of Obama’s oratory skills, an enjoyable State of the Union speech, with a minimum of political preening and no stuttering whatsoever. The choices about our future are still in our own hands, as is the responsibility to act in our own best interests. The option to wake up and see things differently is still available. There are roses waiting to smell, children to hug, friends to encourage, kindnesses to extend. And, at least for a few days, a renewed sense of hope to ease the way.