Sebastian Payne

Obama prepares for battle in his sixth State of the Union address

If you think British politics is broken, just look across the Atlantic to see how dysfunctional things can really become. Since the Republicans seized control of the Senate in November, the gridlock in Washington has become even worse. The Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives are set to spend time and money debating legislation, only for the White House to veto it.

In his sixth State of the Union (SOTU) address last night — the rough equivalent of the Queen’s Speech here — Barack Obama killed off any hopes of bipartisanship.  The president pointed to the priorities set out by the Republicans and set out why he doesn’t intend to work with them.

On the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, a long-held priority for Republicans, Obama said ‘let’s set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline.’ On Iran, the president said new sanctions passed by Congress ‘will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails — alienating America from its allies and ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again.’

On cyber warfare, he urged Congress to ‘finally pass the legislation we need to better meet the evolving threat of cyber-attacks.’ ‘We can’t put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurances’ he said in reference to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which Congress has yet to extend.

His key announcements were more in line with traditional Democratic concerns: helping the middle class (in the American sense of the term), tax hikes for the rich and action on climate change. But his address had a valedictory tone. Obama set about taking credit for America’s economic recovery – arguing his policies have been justified:

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