Frank Rich: The State of the Union Is Comatose

[Me.]

“HANDS down, the State of the Union’s big moment was Barack Obama’s direct hit on the delicate sensibilities of the Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The president was right to blast the 5-to-4 decision giving corporate interests an even greater stranglehold over a government they already regard as a partially owned onshore subsidiary. How satisfying it was to watch him provoke Alito into a “You lie!” snit. Here was a fight we could believe in.

There was more to admire in Obama’s performance as well. He did not retreat into the bite-size initiatives — V-chips, school uniforms — embraced by an emasculated Bill Clinton after his midterm pummeling of 1994. The president’s big original goals — health care, economic recovery, financial reform — remained nominally intact, as did his sense of humor. In a rhetorical touch William Safire would have relished, Obama had the wit to rush the ritualistic “our union is strong” so it would not prompt the usual jingoistic ovation.

Good thing, too, since our union is not strong. It is paralyzed. Many Americans were more eagerly anticipating Steve Jobs’s address in San Francisco on Wednesday morning than the president’s that night because they have far more confidence in Apple than Washington to produce concrete change. One year into Obama’s term we still don’t know whether he has what it takes to get American governance functioning again. But we do know that no speech can do the job. The president must act. Only body blows to the legislative branch can move the country forward.

The historian Alan Brinkley has observed that we will soon enter the fourth decade in which Congress — and therefore government as a whole — has failed to deal with any major national problem, from infrastructure to education. The gridlock isn’t only a function of polarized politics and special interests. There’s also been a gaping leadership deficit.” Cont…

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/opinion/31rich.html

[Skittles]

1. I think Obama has what it takes

it's whether or not he'll DO IT that is in question

[Me.]

2. I Took His Q & A

As a sign that he was ready to start landing counterpunches and I believe Axelrod stated that was the strategy. But he also has to kick some dem butt. And it might be that Reid losing could be a blessing in disguise

[Skittles]

3. I am very much hoping that is the case

I suspect he has heard an earful from his base

[rosesaylavee]

5. If Reid goes, I wonder if Durbin is the next leader?

I like Durbin a lot. He's my senator but I am wondering if he is tough enough to herd these cats. I like that he is consistently, as far as I have observed, supportive of the progressive end of the party. AND he has a good friendship with the President that goes several years back. I don't wish Reid ill - but am not always sure why the heck he does what he does. Trying to get Olympia Snowe on board and not handling Lieberman effectively are definitely points against his judgment.

[Faygo Kid]

4. Wow. K&R most enthusiastically. Check this out:

The conclusion. You MUST read this column; it's what DU is all about:

Just look at how a sharp public slap provoked Justice Alito, threw a spotlight on the court’s dubious jurisprudence and sparked an embarrassing over-the-top hissy fit on the right. A do-nothing Congress, at a time when ever more Americans are losing their jobs and homes, is an even riper target than the Supreme Court — and far more politically vulnerable. Without strong medicine from Obama, we can be certain of the same result: a heedless Congress will keep doing nothing. If he steps it up, there’s at least a shot that his presidency, and maybe even the country, will be pulled back from the brink.