It was a great SOTU speech

I know the speech didn’t get great reviews from the major newspapers or from those who oppose the president. It didn’t  even have a sound bite that will be remembered for years to come.  As a democrat, the speech made me glad I watched it because it reminded me of why I voted for President Obama.

  I liked the tone the president used. It wasn't conciliatory, and he didn't attack the opposition.  The president finally realizes that "if he's for it, then they will be against it." He stuck a fork in the Obamacare battles, saying that the opposition party will never like the law so let's move on.  He emphasized that by saying that they have tried to repeal it for over 40 times, he gets it, don't waste any more time.

Last year during the State of the Union address, the president mentioned 87 ideas that he would like to see put into action.  Only two of those ideas saw the light of day.  Last night,  the president didn't produce a laundry list knowing that it would never pass Congress.  He talked about small things that he could do around climate change and setting the example of the need to  increase the minimum wage by  for signing an executive order to increase the minimum wage for federal contract employees.

I thought the president would be angry or subdued because of his low approval numbers, but he came out upbeat and rather positive.  Then again, he was talking to a Congress with a 13% approval.
As I remember, the president put his line in the sand a couple of times, once to  say that the debate is over, climate change is real.  He also reiterated that he would veto any legislation that throws a wrench into the current Iran negotiations to get them to abandon their nuclear weapon program.  I'm thinking that his climate-change  remark  will be an influencing factor as to whether he approves the rest of the Keystone pipeline project.

The pundits have been trying to handicap President Obama next three years, saying that he will not get any major legislation passed.  That may be so, but it won't be because of lack of trying as he said last night, there's no quit in America.  The president pointed to army ranger Cory Ransburg as an example.  The applause and appreciation for Cory Ransburg brought the partisans together for a standing ovation to a deserving hero.