The President's Challenge to Rethuglicans

Last night's State of the Union was a minor masterpiece for President Obama. He successfully framed the issue as one of fairness for a middle class that doesn't have the lobbyists or money that the wealthiest few and the major corporations have to skew the rules and economic playing field. He was smart to bracket his address with well-deserved kudos to our armed forces (not noting that a Navy SEAL operation had earlier freed 2 hostages from Somali pirates). The Rethuglicans love to paint Dems as "weak" on national security and the war on terror, when in fact, the last Rethuglican administration took their eyes off the ball when it came to al Qaeda.

His economic fairness argument was a perfect foil to one-percenter Willard "Millionaire Mittens" Romney's grudging release of only one year's tax information (and estimate of 2011's), which revealed that Mittens paid a lower rate on millions of interest income than most struggling middle class families pay. Also, who parks money in the Cayman Islands and in Swiss bank accounts who has nothing to hide?

Washington Monthly has a good, crisp summary of the speech, which contained some challenges to the Rethugs to pass legislation on job training, foreclosure relief and alternative energy solutions. While the chances that his challenge will be heeded by the election-obsessed Rethugs are practically zero, it's good to let the American people know who is for their interests, and who is hoping for America to fail in order to win an election.