On Friday, November 6, President Barack Obama announced that he withdrew support for the Keystone XL pipeline plan. With Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry standing with him at a press conference, Obama said the pipeline wouldn’t have served the country well.
The pipeline wouldn’t have been a big jobs creator, he said, so Congress should pass an infrastructure plan. It wouldn’t have lowered gas prices, which have recently been falling. Shipping dirtier crude oil into the country wouldn’t have served well the country’s energy needs. Finally, going through with the plan would’ve hindered efforts to stop climate change.
He said the transition to a clean-energy economy will take time, so we’ll still have to rely on gas and oil. Even so, the country is making strides in using clean energy.
A couple of days before, the U.S. State Department told TransCanada, the company that wanted to build the pipeline, that it would not grant a request to suspend review of the project. TransCanada said that it will continue to show that the pipeline would be in the United States’s best interests.
The president for the most part laid out liberal proposals that would benefit the middle class. Some of these included tax cuts and free community college tuition. He also called for child-care assistance and paid sick leave. He didn’t come out in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline, but he said he wanted a bipartisan infrastructure bill. And of course, he touted America’s economic recovery.
“And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage,” he said, “I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it.”
Probably the one thing the Democrats didn’t support was a Pacific trade plan that was “free, but fair,” as Obama put it. That should be opposed because of what it could do to the country, so the Democrats are right in not supporting it.
Overall, Obama was confident and held his own. He laid out a lot of good ideas for the lower classes that need to be implemented, and for the most part his fellow Democrats agreed with applause.
The Republicans, not so much. In fact, the only time they clapped was when Obama mentioned that he has no more campaigns to run.
His rebuttal?
“I know because I won both of them.” Classic.
Now, for the Republican response — actually responses. There were five because … oh, who cares? For the purposes of this post, I’ll focus on the response that aired after the address. It was delivered by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
It was … phoned in. Her posture was stiff and her delivery was robotic. The response wasn’t as folksy or hokey as last year’s response, from U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, but it was close. I mean, wearing plastic bread bags over your shoes so your only pair won’t get ruined, and not being embarrassed because everyone on the school bus wore the same thing in bad weather?
First, that really doesn’t paint Iowans in a positive light. Granted, sometimes you have to make due, especially when you’re poor. But nobody should be proud of being or of once being poor. Poor people don’t want to be poor: They want help.
Second, I’m getting tired, so tired — and annoyed, and aggravated — with the GOP schtick of “middle America” being better than the “liberal elites” and urbanites. If that’s their point of view, don’t they realize that, by looking down at those who aren’t like them, they’re the ones being conceited and elitist?
Overall, Republicans are boxing themselves into a corner. They have to get behind Obama’s policies because, if they don’t, then the constant refrain of change from the November elections will ring hollow and the GOP will face dire consequences in future elections.
Good. Let’s hope Obama doesn’t give any ground, or at least too much ground, in helping the middle class in the last two years of his presidency.
President Barack Obama will deliver the annual State of the Union address to the Republican-controlled Congress, invited guests, and the nation Tuesday, January 20, at 9 p.m.
Look for Obama to talk about the economy and social inequality, but also racial tensions, Cuba, the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the Keystone XL pipeline, Ebola, free community college tuition, and other important issues.
Also look for the GOP to be just as stone-faced, spiteful, and disrespectful as ever.
Speaking of which, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, will deliver the GOP response to the president’s address, so expect a lot of hot air on
how gas prices and the unemployment rate are high (even though they aren’t),
the president is weak on foreign policy (even though opening relations with Cuba is long overdue and the GOP hated the French during the Bushie years),
and, of course, Benghazi and Solyndra because … Obama’s from Kenya (even though he was born in this country).
For those interested in tuning in, the speech will be broadcast on ABC, CBS, and NBC.
My next post will be my reaction to the broadcast.
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