Is Obama Finally in the Ring?

Has Obama finally found his voice? The day after his defeat by the tea party, which resulted in a $40 billion reduction in the budget, the 44th president might just have awoken. He accepted without a murmur budget cuts that ended certain projects that were dear to him, such as the high-speed train project. In his State of the Union address, Obama set the objective of providing 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed trains in 25 years. Gone. But during the entire debate between Republicans and Democrats, Obama remained silent while his party waited for him to fight vigorously for all of these important programs for the economy and the American people. What’s worse, the radical plan proposed by Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan at least expressed a vision, while the liberals suggested nothing. Democrats had a heavy heart while listening to the governor of Florida, a member of the tea party, rejoice that a $2.4 billion plan for a high speed train between Orlando and Tampa had been scrapped.

But on Wednesday, April 13, something might have changed.

The next debate with the Republican will be regarding the deficit. The U.S. will need to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion in the next twelve years. In a 43-minute-long speech at George Washington University, Obama finally explained his vision: 1) Accept budget cuts, as long as they do not reduce the United States’ ability to compete at the international level nor negatively impact American society; 2) Increase taxes for the richest Americans. Proposing a tax increase can be considered a declaration of war for the tea party and the GOP, largely financed by companies headed by the richest Americans who supported the Republicans during the midterm elections. Obama finally declared publically that he was opposed to tax cuts for the richest put in place by George W. Bush. “There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires,” declared a finally combative Obama.

The speech allowed Obama to present his vision of the future. Americans have been waiting for a while, especially since he launched his campaign for 2012. Obama had not articulated a precise plan for his new campaign or ideas for the future that are different from those of Republicans.

Obama’s speech refuted everything proposed by Republicans, especially heavy cuts in education, Medicaid, insurance for the poor and infrastructure. For Obama, the Republican plan would destroy the “basic social contract” on which America is constructed.

The battle may finally occur. Let’s hope that Obama, who seeks more to be a pragmatist like Reagan than an ideologue, does not retreat again. That would be a tragedy for America.