5:00 pm, Tuesday, February 12
Predictions for Obama’s fifth State of the Union Address have been everywhere. Here’s a quick rundown of what some major news networks and newspapers have predicted:
- ABC News: Improving education, clean energy, some amorphous kind of tax credit, Americans are the best (yes, this was actually a heading), investment
- New York Times: the economy, stupid, importance of strengthening the middle class, gun laws, clean energy, revamping immigration
- HuffPost: investing (the word ‘spending’ will not be used), immigration reform, a lighthearted joke about the seating chart, jobs jobs jobs
- WSJ: immigration, gun control, climate change, the economy, stupid
- CNN: blame the Republicans on debt/tax reform, a general wish list of everything he wants ever (in my opinion, this is a reasonable catchall… look at the variety of topics predicted by everyone else). Also, it’s a big deal to CNN whether or not Michelle Obama wears sleeves or not (great…)
10:30 pm, Tuesday, February 12
How did the State of the Union compare?
- Most news networks were spot on – Obama heavily focused the first half of his speech on the economy—manufacturing reform, the importance of strengthening the middle class, tax policy reform etc.; he basically told Congress several times that the American people expect them to get their act together
- Clean energy was a substantial chunk as well, and Obama had several pithy comments about how the science behind global warming is real
- Comprehensive immigration reform got applause and a quasi-smile (or a similar facial expression) from Boehner, because Obama focused less on the DREAM act and amnesty and emphasized that those who enter the country illegally shouldn’t be able to cut in line for citizenship
- Obama proposed raising the minimum wage to $9/hr and attaching it to the cost of living – there, I found something that wasn’t predicted! (Well, maybe this could go under ‘economy, stupid’)
- Foreign policy was clearly not a focus, as Obama managed to tie the military, Russia, Iran, North Korea, cyber terrorism, and transatlantic trade into less than five minutes
- By far the best part was Obama’s emotional appeal for stronger gun laws, but you should just watch that here
Also, CNN, Michelle wore a sleeveless dress.
