President Obama\u2019s State of the Union Address provided some solace to progressives on some issues, but left a lot to be desired on others.<\/p>\n
He was right to point out that we can\u2019t keep \u201cdrifting from one manufactured crisis to the next\u201d\u2014a good, clean shot at Republican obstructionism on the fiscal cliff and sequestration.<\/p>\n
But for the longest time in the first part of his speech, he focused on deficit reduction, which is an exaggerated problem. He said that \u201ceconomists\u201d say we need $2 trillion more in deficit reduction \u201cto stabilize our finances.\u201d Which economists was he talking about? Not Nobel Prize-winners Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, who have urged him not to focus so much on deficit reduction but rather on job creation.<\/p>\n
And in his discussion of deficit reduction, Obama hinted that most people are going to suffer. \u201cWe can\u2019t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and most powerful,\u201d he said. That doesn\u2019t sound like he\u2019s making a good bargain to me. Instead, it sounds like he\u2019s going to ask \u201csenior citizens and working families\u201d to shoulder a big part of the deficit burden, which they can\u2019t afford to do.<\/p>\n