A Speech Amounts to No Turning Point

The electorate is at the end of its tether and bored of its president — too much failure. Barack Obama’s speech was an attempt to disburden the country of its lethargy.

Tired? Dull? Weary? As the president stood at the lectern, everything he has recently been accused of, and justifiably so, was suddenly rubbished. In his address, the statesman presented himself to the nation as fierce, decisive, at times even humorous — and especially important, full of zest for political action.

As so often before, when Obama found himself in great difficulty, when the approval ratings of his policies and sympathies for him as president were receding, he pulled himself together and found new momentum.

Whether he can win back lost trust, however, is yet to be seen. A speech does not bring about a turning point, and yet, this State of the Union address was particularly important — for him, for the prospects of his party and, not least, for his place in the history books someday.

Whether Obama will simply go down in history as the first black president of America or as a successful president will also be decided in the coming year — and further, whether the health care reform, despite all its serious failures, will succeed in the end; whether a nuclear weapons deal with Iran will materialize; whether immigration reform will be set in motion; and whether Obama can win votes based on his personality and appeal.

The First Year Is Lost

On Nov. 4, the whole House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be newly elected. Early ballots show that these intermediate votes are particularly risky for the president’s party. The electorate is often irritated, disappointed or even bored by the head of the White House.

To a certain extent, this election is about the president’s standing. The more popular he is, the more remote the danger of a dramatic defeat. Currently, Obama has no pulling power. This last year, the first year of his re-election, was lost for the most part.

Far too much is going on: for example, a popular tightening of gun laws, the introduction of a controversial health care reform, a large budget proposal, the Syria situation and finally, the former intelligence employee, Edward Snowden, leaking details of the global data espionage carried out by the National Security Agency.

The result: Just 42 percent of Americans still support Obama’s policies. Worse still, many have even lost their faith in him. Moreover, the majority think the president is too hesitant and too slow in resolving the difficult economic climate.

With the election and his own fate in mind, he mostly tackled the more popular topics: women’s rights, equal pay for equal jobs, an increase in the minimum wage, better and more up-to-date professional training.

In case of further refusal by the Republican opposition, he announced that he would have to pass reforms single-handedly, in case of an emergency — politics of the pen, for the conservatives have not allowed him a single political victory since his first day in office and refuse their support in Congress.

“So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation,” he proclaimed to thundering applause, “that’s what I’m going to do.”

Exuding Steadfast Optimism

At the same time, however, he tried to integrate Republicans with conciliatory words on points where they showed themselves willing to compromise — for example, on immigration reform.

Obama wanted to achieve three things with his speech: Unite his Democrats and, to a certain extent, re-inspire them; demonstrate zest for action, despite all political adversities; and exude steadfast optimism at a time when 62 percent of Americans think their country is on the wrong track.

The first surveys after the speech show that Obama could successfully pull off this hop, skip and jump. However, only in the rough and tumble of daily political life will we see whether this change of mood is genuinely sustainable.