Obama builds on American Exceptionalism

President Obama came, he spoke, and he conquered. We’ve all seen lots of State
of the Union addresses, but we’ve never seen one like the one Obama delivered
on Jan. 25.

It wasn’t a laundry list of legislative proposals. It wasn’t a wish list of
presidential promises. And it didn’t turn into a high-school pep rally between
Republicans and Democrats.

Instead, what we saw and heard was just what a State of the Union address should
be: a serious, intelligent, visionary look at where we are today as a people
and where we need to go, together, to make this country even greater than it is
today.

In a brilliant political move, without even saying the words themselves, Obama
took a favorite theme of conservatives and Tea Partiers — “American
Exceptionalism” — and turned it against them.

Yes, we are the greatest nation on earth, Obama declared. As rough and tumble
as our political discourse might sometimes get, he reminded his audience, not
one person in the House Chamber would choose to live anywhere else.

But to remain great, he insisted, we can’t stand still. We must invest in new
technologies and new possibilities. We must innovate to develop new products
and new, renewable forms of energy. We must give our kids the best education
possible — to make sure we have the trained workforce necessary to lead us into
the future. And we must rebuild our infrastructure and build new high-speed
rail lines to remain competitive.

Obama’s State of the Union speech was, above all, a celebration of the American
Dream. A challenge to all Americans to work together and to be the best we can
be. His message was clear: As Americans, “we do big things.” And we must
continue to do big things. We must grow, we must build and we must win.

And now, in response, the best Republicans can do is grumble that more
“investments” mean more “spending.” How pathetic. How shortsighted. Don’t they
realize that a country that fails to invest will soon die?

Looking ahead to the next two years, Americans are faced with two distinctly
different agendas. Republicans want to fall backwards. President Obama wants to
move forward. And so do the American people.

Visit Mr. Press’s website at billpressshow.com.