Predicting President Obama's first State of the Union Address

012110 – DPT – Obama Prediction

What will President Obama have to say in his SOU?

BY: DAVE TRAUBE

TRAUBUNE

President Barack Obama will soon be giving his first ever State of the Union Address and there are a few subjects we can expect him to discuss. One such thing is required of him by the Constitution and that is the condition of our country. If past speeches are any indication, this opening section will not only be perfectly crafted but poetically delivered by the president. President Obama didn’t invent the speech, but you could almost say he has perfected it.

From the beginning of his public campaign for the presidency, his speaking skills generated public support with passion rarely seen in this country. That momentum allowed him to become the nation’s first African-American president, and his charm made people believe his campaign slogan that, “Yes, we can.”

One year into his presidency, the nation is getting an understanding of whether we can, are still trying to, or just simple can’t. If that seems like a vague statement, we must remember the now famous Obama campaign poster with the word “HOPE” emblazoned under it, suspecting that many of those who looked at it and believed in the idea may have been hoping for something a bit different than what others were.

The first year of Obama’s presidency has been, out of necessity, strongly tied in to working to reduce the economic downturn that our country and, indeed, the entire world has been faced with. In certain ways, the financial structure of our country is being remodeled and President Obama’s efforts are largely responsible for that. The list of economically themed programs includes industry bailout, deficit spending, job loss and creation and economic stimulus, to name a few. He will definitely address the economy and not only what he has done to help it, but what else can be done to help American regain its footing.

In Obama’s inaugural speech, he said that the former administration did not do its job properly and he was ready to get back to unifying politics that have not been watered down and worn out. What has he done differently to support that claim? What new and better directions has the government taken in the last year? How has our international standing risen or fallen? What progress do we make in the conflicts on foreign soil we find our troops engaged in? How goes the war on terror? This is the arena where he has the opportunity to explain these issues to a world-wide audience. If he does so with every one of these topics, you can assume he feels good about the job his administration has done in each area. If not, or if he is silent on specific ones, you may draw your own conclusions.

Many critics and supporters alike agree that the theme of Obama’s presidential campaign was one of responsibility: by the citizens, in the business world, and within the government. Obama’s Press Secretary, Rob Gibbs, even said before the inauguration that the core theme of the speech was, “getting our country back on track.”

One year later, what will the president say along these lines? Will he be able to inspire the support of this country again by the words he speaks and the ideals he represents?

President Obama’s party has just suffered a shocking loss in the recent Massachusetts election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Does this signal a shift in the public’s support of the president, or an opportunity for him to re-engage the imagination of the people?

The future holds the answer, and the upcoming State of the Union Address may contain some clues on what it will be.