The contrast tonight should be stark between an American President, a real leader, and the pathetic losers we have seen for months in the Republican debate. Here are the talking points for the speech:
Talking Points: An America Built to Last
-- In his State of the Union Address, the President will lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last -- an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.
-- The President believes this is a make or break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it. What's at stake is the very survival of the basic American promise that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, and put a little away for retirement.
-- The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent; no debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while more Americans barely get by. Or we can build a nation where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.
-- The fact is, the economic security of the middle class has eroded for decades. Long before the recession, good jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Hard work stopped paying off for too many Americans. Those at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but the vast majority of Americans struggled with costs that were growing and paychecks that weren't.
-- In 2008, the house of cards collapsed. Mortgages were sold to people who couldn't afford or understand them. Banks made huge bets and bonuses made with other people's money. It was a crisis that cost us more than eight million jobs and plunged our economy and the world into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover.
-- The President has been clear that we need to do more to create jobs and help economic growth. But under his leadership and thanks to action taken by this President, the economy is growing again. The economy has added a total of 3.2 million private sector jobs over the last 22 months.
-- American manufacturing is creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. The American auto industry is coming back. Today, American oil production is the highest that it's been in eight years. Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than 2 trillion. And the President signed into law new rules to hold Wall Street accountable. He stands on a solid record and tonight will lay out a blueprint that will ensure an economy built to last over the long term.
-- For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. We've decimated al Qaeda's leadership, delivered justice to Osama bin Laden, and put that terrorist network on the path to defeat. We've made important progress in Afghanistan, and begun a transition so Afghans can assume more responsibility. We joined with allies and partners to protect the Libyan people as they ended the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.
-- We cannot go back to an economy based on outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits. The President intends to keep moving forward and rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded -- an economy built to last.
State Of The Union Address 2012: White House Talking Points
I'm very glad he is hitting hard on the economic inequality theme and rebuilding America. We're In It Together will overcome the politcis of Mitt/Newt, which are greed and selfishness, appeals to prejudice and ignorance.
Instead, we have the Promise of America.
Fired Up and Ready To Go!
Update I: The Promise of America was the theme of then-Senator Obama's Democratic nomination acceptance speech. I've written about it several times, originally in August 2008, and in 2010 when the health care bill passed, and in 2011. It is the most important "left" aspect that I see in Barack Obama. It's a different story of America, a counter-narrrative I call it, a story that rejects greed is good.
President Obama's Counter Narrative of America Revisited
The Counter-Narrative of Barack Obama: "The Promise of America"
From the original diary:
Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 07:22:10 AM PDT
As someone who at times was critical of Barack Obama during the primaries, I was very impressed with Barack Obama's speech last night, with his thinking as much as his delivery.
Obama provided a counter narrative of America, a narrative that stands in contradistinction to that of Reagan selfishness. It's a truly progressive narrative of America in which the history of America is seen as increasing expansions of democracy.
snip
That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot
snip
That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.
It is the fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. 2012 is about two different visions of America. I know which side I am on.