The State of Obama

President Obama will face a tougher crowd than on the campaign trail...President Obama is not doing well- and it is in this climate that he will take to the podim to deliver the State of the Union address. On one hand, presidents have to give this address regardless of the state of the actual union all the time, so it is no big deal. On the other hand, this one will be as much a state of Obama as it is a state of the union. Obama’s approval numbers have been dropping, and though he is still one of the most popular presidents ever, it’s obvious that the honeymoon has been over for a while. It’s not all his fault- the economy was bad when he got here, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were already well entrenched, and the housing/financial crisis was on its way spiraling downward. But, he has not delivered any real solution for people losing their jobs, he has increased our presence in the Afghanistan war, and his fixes for the financial crisis have largely been beneficial for only the banks and Wall Street, leaving many to lose their homes and no real concrete financial fixes outside of the cash for clunkers program. And anytime you have to cite a program named after clunkers as you most notable economic achievement for the year you know you are in trouble.

I’m personally not too interested in his approval numbers going down- that doesn’t mean much other than public opinion. It is disturbing because it was largely his public opinion machine that raised him up to the presidency, but at the same time, presidents get plenty done while they have less than 50% approval. His luck with the health care reform legislation will of course be a big focus- it hasn’t gone through and doesn’t look like it will anytime in the coming months- at least not in its current form. The Massachusetts election will weigh heavily on his ability to sound optimistic on that front.

Still, the unemployment rate is rising more slowly, health care has made advances through the halls of Congress, and he still enjoys majorities in both the House and the Senate- there is room to maneuver. His State of the Union will set the tone for how we will proceed more than take the temperature of where we are or celebrate what we have done up to this point.

To that end, his big announcement will be a program called the Middle Class Task Force. Who would have thought that he may emerge as the champion of the difficult-to-define middle class of America.

"We're going to talk about how we can first of all, focus on job creation and growth. There are going to be a set of proposals that we put forward that help to stabilize the situation and deal with the growing insecurity and anxiety of people who, even if they haven't lost their job, are still feeling squeezed by their incomes shrinking and their costs going up," he told ABC.

"Creating good sustainable jobs is the single most important thing that we can do to rebuild the middle class," he said.

Surely this is true- and hopefully he will not only explain how he will do it but get down to business.

Photo Credit: jmtimages (via Flickr under CCL)