Recall the 10 percent unemployment rate that prevailed shortly after Obama took office.
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“When you come after Americans, we will go after you”, Obama said.
Obama ticked through a number of economic indicators with the air of a man who was not only fed up with Donald Trump’s nonsense, but also disinclined to hear more about falling American standards of living and a hollowed-out manufacturing sector-the very rhetoric that has been the lifeblood of Bernie Sanders’ surprisingly hearty campaign.
But some of his toughest words were for Republican statements over the rise of Daesh (the so-called IS group). “Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped”, Obama said. “That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn’t pass muster on the world’s stage”, he said pointedly. “Over-the-top claims that this is World War-III just play into their hands”, he said.
And in a volley clearly aimed at Trump, Obama warned that “when politicians insult Muslims… that’s not telling it like it is”.
The Obama administration has done little to improve the lot of those of us in the middle class. Wages haven’t increased to keep up with the pace of inflation; many workers have been relegated to accepting jobs that don’t represent their full potential and are working at multiple part-time jobs to make up for the full-time ones they have lost; and health care reform has resulted in higher insurance costs in the form of increased rates and deductibles for the middle class and more costs to small businesses under a complex system few can understand.
Around 30 million viewers were expected to watch live, a nationwide audience that may only be matched in political terms during the Democratic nominating convention later this year.
He did admit to one great failing – his inability to bridge the deepening, bitter partisanship that has defined USA politics and made co-operation between Democrats and Republicans impossible.
But that won’t change the fact that profoundly serious issues remain on the table, and Obama is still president and Congress has been elected to carry out the people’s business.
But he also tacitly, and explicitly, admitted mistakes. It may not signal anything about the eighth year of his presidency, but it certainly shows that he feels confident about the achievements of the first seven.
During the speech, Obama left a seat vacant to represent the victims of gun violence.
Obama meandered into a discussion of money in politics before resuming the night’s theme.
“It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency”, he said, “that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better”.
Nor did South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was chosen by Republican Party leaders to respond to the president. She wrote to him a year ago to express concern about the America her son will grow up in.
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She also cited “chaotic unrest in many of our cities” and “the most risky terrorist threat our nation has seen since September 11”. And the president was calling us out. She called on Americans to resist the temptation “to follow the siren call of the angriest voices”.
