“To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills. And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions.”
- Barack Obama, last night’s State of The Union.
I don’t have much to say about the speech — it seemed more of the same: lofty ambitions paired with centrist milquetoast and inadequate ways of getting there, packaged with weighty rhetoric.
But I did like that quote. Not because I think the Republicans are actually going to start working with Democrats now that they have the 41-seat majority; but because at least he called out the ridiculous Dems who insisted that at a 59-vote majority, they clearly were powerless to make change.
I hope it served as a slap at Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln; a reminder that they have responsibilities beyond serving corporate masters by slowing and watering down the progressive change this country so desperately needs.
Of course, I’m not confident of it; nor am I confident that Obama, despite what seemed a clear understanding of the plight so many in this country face right now, will push to make those corporate Senators change their ways and work for progress.
But maybe this year served as a lesson in political street fighting, and the humor and cockiness the President showed last night is the first sign that he won’t be rolled this year. Only then can the state of our union be as “strong,” as it is yearly proclaimed.
