State Of The Union 2014: What Liberals Want
By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE | 1/26/14 4:15 PM EST
For progressives, Tuesday’s State of the Union isn’t so much about what President Barack Obama says, but how forcefully and expansively he says it.
They’re looking less for a specific wish list — though they have one of those, too — than for Obama to deliver a robust response to what he has repeatedly called “the defining issue of our time.”
In a tone-setting speech in December, Obama embraced an increase in the minimum wage and spoke of his commitment to broad principles. Now he’ll have to balance how much further to take that to energize his base against the damage he could do to red-state Democrats — particularly in Senate races where the party’s on defense — by seeming to swing too far.
But the politician whose fate progressives say is really in the balance is Obama himself. Though the president’s promise has them more excited — and even hopeful — than they’ve been in years, they warn that he’ll either follow through with a State of the Union that really starts bringing their response to income inequality to the mainstream or squander his last chance to deliver on the promise of his 2008 election.
“This is the last State of the Union before people can see the sunset,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. “You can frame this. You can talk about things in a lot of different ways, but fundamentally, you’re talking about the notion of direction.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/what-liberals-want-102453.html#ixzz2rXvg2CQo
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