I sat still for the long, dry, but impressive speech on our nation’s deficit delivered by President Barack Obama at George Washington University yesterday. To be honest, the speech was so dull that even Vice President Joe Biden, along with an anonymous black female college student, were seen nodding off as the president laid out the details on how he was going to save our nation from economic ruin.
Like a lecturer in a Theoretical Physics course, President Obama explained how our nation needed to make rapid economic adjustments in order to avoid ending up like fiscally handicapped countries like Greece.
In spite of its relatively uninspiring nature, I thoroughly enjoyed the president’s speech. Sure, it wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but a president is supposed to lead us, not entertain us. The speech needed to be detailed, because it relied on the American capacity for intellect and discipline to explain why we must change the course that our economic ship has taken since the days of Ronald Reagan. President Reagan taught the Republicans that irresponsible, selfish and myopic greed is a good thing, and that it somehow makes sense for them to protect the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
WATCH RACHEL MADDOW’S COVERAGE OF THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH:
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It is easy to see that history is already on the side of Obama. He spoke of his rivals respectfully, acknowledging their right to disagree with his policies. The Republicans, on the other hand, spoke of the president as if he were an evil, incompetent and horrible human being for showing compassion for the poor, the elderly and the disabled.
Their attacks on Obama took us to the days when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke with dignity toward those who hated him, for their treatment of Obama is directly related to (though not entirely a function of) his ethnicity.
Now, before we go too far with the comparisons to King, we should consider some of the proposals put forth by Obama. Citing evidence that the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer over the last decade, President Obama made it clear that he would do everything in his power to protect clean energy, education, Medicare and other programs that are essential to the American public. He also tapped into American pride to note the embarrassment our nation would face by having to admit that we can’t afford to invest in our nation’s future in ways similar to Brazilian, Korean and Chinese citizens.
The president, unlike the Republicans, was willing to consider the recommendations of the bipartisan fiscal commission, who laid out guidelines for deficit reduction. President Obama explained that it is patriotic to support his initiatives as a way to give back to your country and invest in America. The president’s views are driven by an ideology which says that Americans are wired to care for one another, and that the deficit should be confronted by allowing those with the greatest excess to pay a little more in taxes. Conservatives, on the other hand, argue that the wealthy don’t have to give back to anyone.
The president likely bolstered his public support with the speech he gave on budget cuts. His plan has been described as “serious” and “balanced” by leading deficit hawks. The applause that the president has received for his plan is to the chagrin of Republicans, who want to write off tax increases to the wealthy as irresponsible hogwash.
WATCH THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH HERE:
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As it stands, the president must deal with the fact that the federal government debt ceiling must be increased from the legally allowed $14.29 trillion limit, with the consequence of inaction being unimaginable economic volatility for the nation. Whether his plans get through the House and Senate are another thing, because Republicans have been given a license from their constituents to stop him by any means necessary.
It seems that the idea of working together has been thrown out the window, as the president continues seeking to negotiate with those who have little incentive for cooperation. At the same time, the president’s speech showed a great deal of backbone, supported by a fundamental compassion for the American people. By taking on the Republicans in this manner, the president has another opportunity to show that he is committed to some portion of the serious change he promised the country during his 2008 campaign. Even if he doesn’t succeed at obtaining the change he is seeking, progressive Americans will at least give him credit for trying.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the initiator of the National Conversation on Race. For more information, please visit BoyceWatkins.com>