Obama for Employment

Published in Diario de Noticias
(Portugal) on 26 January 2012
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Diana Coada. Edited by Mark DeLucas.
Nobody denies that Barack Obama is a great speaker. But his State of the Union speech was more than just rhetoric. Following a tradition that has, since the times of Harry Truman, given presidents the right to be broadcast on TV throughout the United States, the president spoke to citizens in his usual style, with an open heart, and promised not only to create wealth but to also redistribute it across the nation.

With the decisive re-election day of Nov. 6 approaching, the president bet on a speech heavily laced with political messages, focusing on the economy, but also exclaiming his external political triumphs. As a matter of fact, it is not a coincidence that the figures fighting to be the Republican candidate avoid discussing diplomacy, as they know that Obama has Osama bin Laden’s elimination on his list of achievements.

On the issue of economy, which is possibly his weakest area, the president promised to create jobs and thus contribute to the re-launching of prosperity. These words would have pleased the population, as it is not used to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate. And when it comes to combating inequality, he defended Warren Buffett’s proposal to tax incomes over $1 million by 30 percent. A blow to Mitt Romney, Obama's possible rival in the presidential elections, who has a wealth of $250 million and who, as it was discovered last week, paid a tax of 14 percent on an annual income of $21 million.

The Republicans did not wait to react. Obama was accused of making a pro-poverty speech and of promoting class warfare. But one of his sentences is worth more than all the criticism: He will not allow for a return to the politics that led to the 2007–09 recession. This was a message to the Republicans, who, during George Bush’s administration, cut the taxes of the wealthiest against the will of some of them, such as Buffett, the third richest person in the world.


Obama pelo trabalho
Que Barack Obama é um grande orador, ninguém contesta. Mas o seu discurso do Estado da União foi muito mais que retórica. Seguindo uma tradição que desde os tempos de Harry Truman tem direito a transmissão televisiva para toda a América, o Presidente falou aos cidadãos no seu estilo habitual de coração aberto e prometeu não só criar riqueza como redistribui-la pela nação.
Com a data decisiva para a sua reeleição, 6 de novembro, a aproximar-se, o Presidente apostou num discurso carregado de mensagem política, centrado na economia, mas reivindicando também triunfos na política externa. Aliás, não é por acaso que as figuras que lutam para ser o candidato republicano à Casa Branca evitam entrar no tema da diplomacia, pois sabem que Obama tem no currículo a eliminação de Ussama ben Laden.
Na questão da economia, que é talvez o seu ponto mais fraco, o Presidente prometeu criar emprego e, assim, contribuir para o relançamento da prosperidade. Palavras que terão agradado a uma população pouco habituada a uma taxa de desemprego que ronda os 8,5%. E no âmbito do combate às desigualdades, defendeu a proposta de Warren Buffett para taxar em 30% os rendimentos acima de um milhão de dólares. Uma estocada em Mitt Romney, possível rival nas presidenciais, com fortuna pessoal de 250 milhões de dólares e que, soube-se esta semana, por rendimentos anuais de 21 milhões pagou uns meros 14%.
A resposta republicana não tardou: Obama foi acusado de ter um discurso pró-pobreza. E de promover a luta de classes. Mas uma frase sua vale mais que todas as críticas: não vai permitir que regressem as políticas que levaram à recessão de 2007-2009. Uma mensagem aos republicanos, que na era George W. Bush cortaram nos impostos dos mais abastados. Contra a vontade de alguns deles, como Buffett, o terceiro mais rico do mundo.
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