the White House website<\/a>. \u00a0But the text didn\u2019t seem quite right \u2014 only after looking at this a bit did I realize that this was the 2014 SOTU, but it was so similar I didn\u2019t figure this out at first.)<\/p>\nSo:<\/p>\n
He starts of with the pitch that the economy is doing well, and, of course, it\u2019s because of his policies. \u00a0(Even though, ironically, he boasts of lower gas prices but he himself said gas should cost more, rather than less.) \u00a0His list includes 11 million new jobs, the \u201chighest math and reading scores on record\u201d for \u201cour younger students,\u201d an all-time high high school graduation rate, a reduction in the number of uninsured, etc. \u00a0He calls this \u201cmiddle-class economics.\u201d \u00a0 And he promises to veto any bill that \u201ctakes away health insurance,\u201d or \u201cunravels Wall Street regulations\u201d or \u201crefights past immigration battles.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first new item: \u00a0\u201d\u00a0my plan will make quality childcare more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America \u2013 by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year.\u201d \u00a0Now, we\u2019ve heard of bump in the tax credit for childcare before, but I\u2019m not sure what he means by \u201ccreating more slots\u201d; that makes sense only if we\u2019re referring to government-provided childcare, since there is no shortage of private childcare. <\/p>\n
He asks for a bill providing 7 days of paid leave.<\/p>\n
He asks Congress to \u201cpass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work.\u201d \u00a0Really? \u00a0Does he not understand that this law already exists?<\/p>\n
He calls for a minimum-wage hike, because you can\u2019t \u201csupport a family\u201d on minimum wage. \u00a0Well, of course not.<\/p>\n
He, of course, touts his community college plan, but deceptively: \u00a0the plan as previously announced is for the first two years, and only for full-time attendance. \u00a0But he touts this for single parents, older students, and others who are, in practice, attending part-time, and may have taken classes in the past. <\/p>\n
He claims improvements have been made at the VA.<\/p>\n
He asks for a bipartisan infrastructure bill: \u00a0\u201cSo let\u2019s set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline. Let\u2019s pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more than thirty times as many jobs per year, and make this country stronger for decades to come.\u201d \u00a0Which is I suppose his way of rejecting the Keystone Pipeline.<\/p>\n
He asks for authority for new trade deals.<\/p>\n
He announces a Precision Medicine Initiative. \u00a0Which is great, but doesn\u2019t that require spending money that he doesn\u2019t have appropriations power over?<\/p>\n
He blandly calls for more technology.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s where the rubber hits the road: \u00a0his plan for tax increases.<\/p>\n
He repeats his tired claim that we need to \u201cclose loopholes so we stop rewarding companies that keep profits abroad.\u201d \u00a0And he says, \u201clet\u2019s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth.\u201d \u00a0\u2014 which I imagine refers to the proposed limitations on deferred taxes on income build-up in 401(k)\/IRAs, but sure sounds like a wealth tax.<\/p>\n
On foreign policy: \u00a0he touts his \u201cdiplomacy\u201d and \u201ccoalition-building\u201d and claims that \u201cAmerican leadership \u2013 including our military power \u2013 is stopping ISIL\u2019s advance.\u201d \u00a0Really? \u00a0Last I read, we were doing a lousy job, if at all.<\/p>\n
He implies that we\u2019ve \u201cfixed\u201d Russian aggression because \u201cits economy [is] in tatters\u201d \u2014 though they are still controlling Crimea and the Ukranian borderlands. <\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, he touts his Cuban \u201cdeal\u201d\/giveaway.<\/p>\n
He says he\u2019ll veto any sanctions on Iran and says he\u2019s hopeful that we\u2019ll prevent a nuclear Iran by negotiation.<\/p>\n
He asks for legislation to counter cyber-attacks.<\/p>\n
He touts the role U.S. troops played in Africa fighting Ebola. \u00a0(Funny, it was just the other day I read an article that said we were basically there after the crisis was receding.)<\/p>\n
He repeats the bit about 2014 being the warmest year on record (wasn\u2019t that retracted just as quickly as it was claimed?) and calls for action to reduce emissions.<\/p>\n
He says we lead by the example of our values, so he\u2019s prohibited torture, and \u201cworked to make sure our use of new technology like drones is properly constrained\u201d (really?), and we \u201d\u00a0continue to reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims,\u201d and repeats his determination to shut down Gitmo. <\/p>\n
Then he brings back his old \u201cnot a black America and a white America\u201d speech ans says \u201cI still believe that we are one people.\u201d \u00a0And he speaks very passively, that \u201cpundits\u201d say that our politics are more divided than ever.<\/p>\n
And he starts into a section on \u201ca better politics\u201d and claims that we\u2019ll all pull together. \u00a0Pardon me if I\u2019m skeptical of his examples. \u00a0He claims that he\u2019s not demanding that the GOP just adopt all his ideas but that we work together, but then his \u201ccompromises\u201d are these:<\/p>\n
for abortion: \u00a0\u201cevery woman should have access to the health care she needs.\u201d \u00a0Come on, everyone knows that abortion-rights folks have defined \u201chealthcare\u201d to include aboriton.<\/p>\n
for immigration: \u00a0don\u2019t take a hardworking mom from her child. <\/p>\n
with respect to \u201cthe events of Ferguson and New York\u201d: \u00a0he calls for reforming the criminal justice system \u201cso that it protects and serves us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
I thought there would be something in it that\u2019s interesting to talk about, but it\u2019s not. \u00a0Just an hour of, well, nothingness.<\/p>\n
What did you think?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So I didn\u2019t actually watch the speech \u2014 which is still going on as I type \u2014 but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits \u2014 the next and final step is to find the lost final piece) and idly listed to it. \u00a0But now let\u2019s read though \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,75],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-obama","tag-state-of-the-union"],"yoast_head":"\n
SOTU<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So I didn't actually watch the speech -- which is still going on as I type -- but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits -- the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SOTU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So I didn't actually watch the speech -- which is still going on as I type -- but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits -- the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-21T03:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-25T03:39:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html\",\"name\":\"SOTU\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-21T03:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-25T03:39:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"So I didn't actually watch the speech -- which is still going on as I type -- but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits -- the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SOTU\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SOTU","description":"So I didn't actually watch the speech -- which is still going on as I type -- but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits -- the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SOTU","og_description":"So I didn't actually watch the speech -- which is still going on as I type -- but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits -- the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-01-21T03:54:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-25T03:39:54+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html","name":"SOTU","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-01-21T03:54:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-25T03:39:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"So I didn't actually watch the speech -- which is still going on as I type -- but worked on the family puzzle in the next room (did the last bits -- the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/01\/sotu.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SOTU"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}