Stronger Today Than in 2008

The Barack Obama that the Democrats want is back. The leader of the concrete utopia, of the possible change, of the battle to the death against an obtuse and reactionary right-wing party. The U.S. president uses the State of the Union address to give the country a sense of the challenge that awaits him in November: an ideological choice between two incompatible conceptions of America, the nation of opportunities or the country of plutocracy. He does that with a clever, understated speech, with the aplomb of the great statesman, but without any sign of weakness.

An hour and five minutes, many standing ovations — mostly by the Democrats, sometimes by the Republicans. Obama tells of his last visit to Fort Andrews, the military base where he “welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq,” underlining one of the promises he made on his first mandate: “For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq.” Another of this president’s historical accomplishments follows: “For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al-Qaida’s top lieutenants have been defeated.”

The military metaphor widens to the Navy Seals that executed the mission against bin Laden. Their success depended upon the fact that “all that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics.” This is the winning America that Obama wants to open to society and economy, too: “An economy built to last, where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.” Here’s the fundamental choice, the one that describes the plays for high stakes on the election in November: “We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share.”

He recalls the dramatic situation he inherited from the Bush administration: “Long before the recession… Folks at the top saw their incomes rise like never before…and personal debt that kept piling up.” In the big 2008 crisis, “the house of cards collapsed.” He claims an improvement, even if insufficient, with his administration: “In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs…American manufacturers are hiring again.” He reminds that a symbol of this industrial rebirth is General Motors, back in first place in the world. He is taking advantage of this for a concrete initiative, a plan of fiscal incentives for enterprises which relocate job openings to the United States. He announces the creation of a special task force to fight China’s unfair trading practices, preventing any form of counterfeit.

Education is the key to regain competitiveness: “Join me in a national commitment to train 2 million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job.” The return to American values passes through the fight to a strident injustice, the fiscal one. Here Obama has already given a signal, among Congress’ guests, by his wife Michelle, is billionaire Warren Buffett’s secretary. It was Buffett himself who made a big thing out of it, by revealing that his secretary’s income tax rate is higher than the one that he pays as the second-wealthiest man in the U.S.: “If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes.”

He therefore re-launches the Buffet tax, the taxation for millionaires: an idea that catches the Republicans unprepared on the same day one of their candidates, Mitt Romney, has to reveal that he pays only a 14 percent tax on his millionaire income. He says: “Now, you can call this class warfare all you want…When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich.”

Recorded by the cameras, Steve Jobs’ widow is another guest next to Michelle Obama; her late husband is a symbol of creative and innovative capitalism, and confirmation of the fact that Obama doesn’t want to portray entrepreneurship as criminal. The rich have to pay their part: That’s the necessary premise not to cut school funds, the strategic investment for the future. He dedicates another barb to Wall Street, announcing the creation of a new “police” against financial fraud.

The president knows that these announcements risk being vain: The biggest part of his reform agenda has been thwarted by the right wing’s obstructionism, because the Republicans have had a Congressional majority since 2010 and a large enough minority to obstruct progress in the Senate. But he promises that he’ll be fighting over the months from here to the elections: “With or without this Congress, I will keep taking actions that help the economy grow.”

The mentions of foreign policy are few, but he’s severe about Iran: “The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent. Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”

He concludes on a decisively optimistic note: “Anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about…There is no challenge too great…our future is hopeful and the state of our Union will always be strong.”