A political observer says a State of the Union Address traditionally serves as a laundry list, an expectation that President Obama fulfilled. John McAdams of Marquette University also says Obama “kind of laid down the gauntlet” on Republicans by insisting his stance will be for generating tax revenue.
Congressional Republicans have been supportive of policies involving tax cuts.
McAdams says Obama’s re-election gives him a mandate but perhaps not as much as the president thinks, as he won by half the margin as 2008. “It is true though that the mere perception of a mandate may be more important than any actual analysis of whether the president has a mandate,” he adds saying the media has “gone along” with the mandate concept.
Obama also rolled out plans to increase energy independence, create manufacturing jobs, rebuild the deteriorating infrastructure, and end the war in Afghanistan.
