Inequality and Social Mobility Central to Obama's State of the Union Address

By Dan Roberts, The Guardian

20 January 15

ight years after the start of the global banking crisis, Barack Obama on Tuesday will seek to reset America’s financial priorities in a State of the Union address aimed at suggesting ways to ensure the benefits of the recovery are more evenly spread across society.

Despite his relative political impotency in Congress, the president hopes to use recent US economic strength to rally support outside Washington not just for a more radical policy agenda in his last two years in office, but for a burgeoning 2016 election debate in both parties about inequality and social mobility.

“America is now really in a position to turn the page,” said Obama in a preview released ahead of his speech by the White House.

“This State of the Union gives me an opportunity to present to the American people: now we have fought our way through the crisis, how do we make sure that everybody in this country is sharing in this recovery, how do we make sure they have the tools to succeed?”

The speech, due to be delivered at 9pm EST before a combined gathering of Congress, supreme court justices and cabinet members, will seek to build on a flurry of pre-announcements in recent days: from expanding college access, broadband penetration and workplace leave through to a proposed tax redistribution proposal that has been dubbed the “Robin Hood plan” by supporters and critics.

But White House officials acknowledge that persuading the Republican-controlled House and Senate to vote for increasing capital gains tax on the rich will be an uphill struggle, and they are looking to focus on areas where they stand a better chance of finding bipartisan consensus.

“There are elements of our plan that Republicans have supported in the past,” said Obama’s senior adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, in a warmup appearance before the speech on CBS. “Our higher education tax breaks are something very similar to something the Republican House passed last year. The fee on large financial institutions is something very similar to what was included in the Republican corporate tax reform plan last year by Republican Dave Camp.”

Another hope is that the recent focus on inequality by mainstream Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential race, such as Mitt Romney, plus the popularity of figures like Senator Elizabeth Warren on the left, will make it harder for critics in either party to dismiss the speech as simply a lame-duck president’s futile wish list.

This year’s speech also coincides with a growing global debate about the dangers of inequality in developed countries, a subject that is dominating the start of the World Economic Form in Davos.

But the House speaker, John Boehner, who has chosen newly elected conservative heroine and Iowa senator Joni Ernst to deliver the traditional State of the Union rebuttal on Tuesday, has had plenty of time in the runup to the speech to hone a Republican response – one that even enlists pop stars like Taylor Swift to highlight its opposition to increased taxes.

Much of Obama’s challenge in the speech therefore lies in simultaneously convincing wealthier Americans that the recovery is solid enough to warrant a more redistributive approach, while convincing them that helping those on lower incomes climb the ladder is in the American tradition.

“Over the last six years we have been weighed down by the legacy of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,” argued the president’s preview address. “Last year was the best job growth since the 1990s, the unemployment rate has [dropped to] 5.6%, we have seen manufacturing come back, we have cut our deficit, gas prices have dropped and so we are well positioned for the future.

“Over the next two years we have the opportunity to not simply continue the momentum that was built last year but to really capitalise on some of the long-term trends that make America best positioned to take advantage of the 21st century,” he added.

But the economy is unlikely to be the only theme of a 6,000-word speech that has been months in the making, according to aides.

A pre-released list of presidential invites to the first lady’s box includes a number of guests who suggest the president aims to use recent controversies in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York to refocus the debates about both policing and gun violence.

This focus on security for all will be highlighted by a 13-year-old boy from Chicago whose letter to Santa caught White House attention by saying “I just wanna be safe”.

The first lady’s box, which overlooks the floor of the House of Representatives where Obama will appear, also includes figures such as freed Cuban prisoner Alan Gross who hint at the president’s likely stress on achievements in 2014 ranging from political rapprochement with the communist Caribbean nation through to healthcare and immigration reform.

There is even an astronaut, Scott Kelly, who is about to spend a year on the International Space Station in preparation for Obama’s somewhat dormant goal of helping Nasa prepare for a manned mission to Mars.

When Kelly comes back to Earth, Obama’s second term will be drawing to a close, and the president is likely to hope that his sixth State of the Union speech will help reverse a perception that his time in office has fallen short of the lofty liberal rhetoric with which he was elected.

The speech, which has seen declining television ratings in recent years, will be followed on Wednesday by a trip to Idaho, scene of much primary election focus, and an interview on YouTube. But it still remains Obama’s last big chance to redefine both the US and global political landscape.