White House officials are promising a course correction in President Obama’s Tuesday State of the Union speech, and predict he will play up the claimed economic benefits of his progressive policies, according to a series of media reports.
He’ll also head out on a three-day campaign swing starting Wednesday to promote his plans that “focus on strengthening the economy for the middle class and those striving to get there,” said a Sunday White House statement.
That’s a shift from his second inaugural speech, which he used last month to tout a series of non-economic goals including improved social status for gays and lesbians.
His State of the Union speech is expected to boost a series of controversial priorities as good for middle class Americans, according to official leaks to favored establishment media outlets.
These priorities reportedly include winning a conditional amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants — most of whom are low-skill workers — plus increased spending on education, raising taxes on investors and employers, and boosting spending on so-called “green tech.”
But Obama is also expected to portray his non-economic priorities as good for the economy.
For example, The New York Times reported Sunday that the president would also announce that he will push ahead with plans to reduce the size of the nation’s already-reduced nuclear deterrent force.
“White House officials are looking at a cut that would take the arsenal of deployed weapons to just above 1,000 …. [down] about 1,700,” said the report, based on a briefing given by an “official who was involved in the [White House] deliberations.”
Obama, the official said, “believes that we can make pretty radical reductions — and save a lot of money — without compromising American security in the second term.”
The claimed economic rationale for Obama’s non-economic issues comes only three weeks after he delivered a self-written inauguration speech that devoted only a few words to the nation’s stalled economy.
Instead, he played up a series of social controversies, including new curbs on guns, easier immigration, and legal rights for gays and lesbians, estimated to comprise roughly 4 percent of the population.
Obama’s social-issue agenda came out just before a shocking Jan. 30 economic report — based on initial data — concluded the economy had contracted by 0.1 percent in the last three months of 2012. Also, the January jobs report showed the nation’s formal unemployment rose 0.1 percent, to 7.9 percent, in January.
Even before that bad economic news was released, a Gallup poll showed that Obama’s progressive goals were a low priority for Americans.
That January poll asked people to identify the most important problem America faces. While 21 percent tagged the economy, 20 percent identified the deficit, and 16 percent cited unemployment, only 7 percent of respondents identified either guns or immigration as top issues. Obama has pushed both in January and February.
Only 4 percent said guns were the top problem, while 3 percent identified immigration, said Gallup. The firm did not ask respondents about global warming, which Obama identified as a top issue in his inauguration speech.
Economic pessimism has grown recently, creating a greater obstacle to Obama’s second-term ambitions.
For example, only 12 percent of Americans believe the economy will rebound to pre-recession levels by 2014, according to a mid-January poll of 1,09 people by Rutgers University’s Center for Workforce Development.
That poll showed that 34 percent believe a full recovery will happen around 2017, but 54 percent believe it will not recover for at least six years. More than half that 54 percent believe the national economy will not fully recover, said the report.
So far, Obama is maintaining a positive approval rating of 52 percent, with a 43 percent disapproval, according to a February poll by Gallup.