President Obama’s State of the Union address earlier this year revealed the President’s policy agenda. Throughout his speech, he uses a multitude of methods to persuade the public and Congress to act on the issues he gave the most priority to. From strategy that paints his Republican opponents as not working for the American people to statistics regarding the economy, touching stories about the lives of everyday Americans, and many more. It remains to be seen if the pressures he applied to Congress, other political actors and the public will yield the results he desired. Many of the issues he highlighted in his speech fall under three main categories: the economy, education investment, and foreign policy.
The economy, a top priority issue for many Americans and a common theme underlying his speech, is the first topic the President addresses. First, he credits the success of the economic turnaround to his bailout of the automobile companies with the authority of numbers painting the picture of the recovery, which he also uses to justify further programs he wishes to initiate, like investment in infrastructure (including alternative energy infrastructure investments that would save “$4 billion a year” from going to the fossil fuel industry) and the raising of the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. Throughout the speech, he seems to tie a lot of policy issues into the improvement of the economy, including further proposals to reform the tax code, bills to address the growing income equality of the middle class and the rich, while working to keep the budget deficit under control. He also makes a pitch for the Affordable Care Act. The President warns that without further bipartisan action on reforms to things like the housing market and tax code, another economic recession could really hurt American families. In effect, he puts a lot of pressure on Congress to set aside the partisanship (which he references when he mentions the government shutdown) and work with him on these policy issues, while giving emotional appeals to the American Dream and equality of opportunity. At one point, he then jabs at Congress by saying, “So get those bills to my desk. Put more Americans back to work.”
Likewise, further into his speech concerning educational reform programs that he would like to see, he again uses language that acknowledges the frustrations that the economic recovery and subsequent events have instilled in many Americans. More importantly, he tells Americans not to lose faith in the American Dream, another appeal to values, and launches right away into proposals that would attempt to address education inequality, provide more student aid for those going to college, and get students early on to be interested in science, engineering, and mathematics. The latter proposal, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics curriculum (STEM) goes hand in hand with a revamped high quality preschool program he would like to see expanded. President Obama believes that investment in our nation’s children through these policies will help the economy thrive in the long run, create more jobs, and put America ahead of competing countries like China and India. He claims that the extra money saved from enacting these policies can go towards the infrastructure projects he mentioned earlier. In the same way, he puts the onus on Congress primarily, while subtly pressuring the industries and philanthropist organizations themselves to form closer partnerships with him on the interrelated areas of education and the economy. Overall, a common theme I noted besides the appeals to the American Dream, is that he wants to invest in the future of America, through all these proposals, and that Congress is standing in the way of further American innovation.
Later in his speech, he thanks all the American service members for their sacrifices, while painting an optimistic picture of the future when he mentions that around 60,000 service members are home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Ultimately, this ties in to his point, which he emphasizes many times in this section of the address: there are other ways to fight America’s enemies overseas (e.g. Al Qaida) in Syria, Yemen, Mali, Somalia and Iraq besides committing ground troops. President Obama alludes to his foreign policy in advocating limited, specifically targeted measures, such as airstrikes in Syria, while partnering closely with NATO. The previous hints that he is listening to American fears about another draining campaign and is shifting the burden for further military action onto NATO, while trying to get more attention to a subtler kind of terrorism at home in cyber-attacks. Despite all of these emerging threats, the President expressed confidence in fighting more battles through diplomacy and cites examples of this in action, such as with Iran and its nuclear program, the Israel and Palestinian negotiations, the drawing-down of Syria’s chemical weapons stash, and even humanitarian democracy building. Again, he arouses a strong sense of patriotism as a rallying force for Americans to support the troops coming home to civilian life.
He concludes his address with a story concerning an Army Ranger, Cory Remsburg, who nearly was killed by an IED in Afghanistan. Personifying the American determination in the face of hardship, Cory rebounded from his injuries, parallel to the idea that America, like Cory, is capable of rebounding and thriving against all odds.
In conclusion, President Obama makes key policy pitches in the areas of the economy, education, and foreign policy. He uses subtle, loaded language to pressure groups like Congress and to convey that he is always listening to the American people. Meanwhile he instills in Americans a sense of patriotism with a constant reminder of the principle of equal opportunity that constitutes America’s foundation. His reliance on emotional appeals over numbers and facts is powerful and effective in emphasizing American triumphs while instilling in his audience his vision for a future in which America stands as an example for the rest of the world in constant innovation. However, only time will tell if his policy-pushing strategy succeeded and will yield legislation he favors.
Works Cited:
White House Office of the Press Secretary. (2014, January 28). President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/28/president-barack-obamas-state-union-address.
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