Tonight: The State of the Union

Tonight, President Obama will give his sixth State of the Union address. (There will be an Open Thread here tonight during the address.) He's got a lot of work to do: "68 percent of Americans say the country is either stagnant or worse off since he took office, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Just 31 percent say the country is better off, and a deep pessimism continues to fuel the public's mood. Most respondents used words like 'divided,' 'troubled,' and 'deteriorating' to describe the current state of the nation. On the eve of Tuesday's State of the Union address, more than six-in-10 Americans believe that the nation is headed in the wrong direction and 70 percent are dissatisfied with the economy."

I mean, yeah. A lot of people are really unhappy and disappointed right now. And not just because the Republicans are obstructionist pains in the ass (although that, too), but people aren't stupid, and they know they realize that some of the failure to enact progressive economic policy that actually makes meaningful differences in their lives is because there is "no appetite" for those policies at the White House.

Primarily, policies have been pursued that protect the wealthy and enrich corporations—some of which, like the Affordable Care Act, also help people in the process of being, for example, a giant corporate hand-out to for-profit insurance companies. Which is why the recovery has been terrific for the wealthy and not so great for everyone else. Turns out trickle-down economics still doesn't work!

I live in a state that went blue for Obama in '08, then went back to red in '12. When I talk to people around here about Obama's presidency, generally people like him, but have a sense that he just isn't really as passionate about working class people's needs as his "hope and change" campaign first suggested to them. They aren't angry; they're just disappointed. They're tired.

Anyway. Nothing would make me happier if President Obama plans to maximize use of his bully pulpit to champion real progressive policy and embarrass the shit out of a Republican Party that services no one but the elite. I would love to see him go all in, even if he knows the GOP will thwart him. Because there are a lot of people in this country who feel like no one gives a fuck about them anymore. And the Republicans can't stop him from giving them that.