Tag Archives: deficit

With two exceptions -- gun control and gays in the military -- the State of the Union speech delivered by President Obama could have been given by a Republican. And unlike his inaugural speech last year (and the traditional SOTU speech), he did not recite a specific laundry list of proposals and ideas he would pursue in the coming year. Instead he presented broad themes and big ideas (“Sputnik moment,” invest in the future, reform our tax code, deficit reduction). And in those places where he did provide specifics, it was often an idea that undercut Republican ideas (veto legislation that contained earmarks, reform the tax code and freeze all domestic spending). The significance of this is that if it was not clear before, it is now -- President Obama has shifted hard to the center of the political spectrum.