The I president discovers we and our -- March 2, 2017 column

By MARSHA MERCER

 Give President Donald Trump credit. He showed Tuesday night he can deliver an inaugural address.

So it was 40 days after his inauguration – but who’s counting? 

The bullying, snarling Trump was gone; in his place was a well-behaved guard dog, one that wants to please and is, literally, good with children. 

“My administration wants to work with members in both parties to make child care accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents have paid family leave, to invest in women’s health, and to promote clean air and clean water and rebuild our military infrastructure,” Trump said in his first speech to a joint session of Congress.  

Except for the last bit about rebuilding the military, the remark could have come from a Democratic president, as could Trump’s call for $1 trillion in new infrastructure spending – something that had Democrats and usually cost-conscious Republicans on their feet, applauding. 

Outsider no more, Trump placed himself squarely in the line of Republican presidents. He echoed George W. Bush -- “Education is the civil rights issue of our time,” Trump said – and cited Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower.

Does any of this matter? For this president at this moment, yes. 

Asked on Fox & Friends the other day to grade his presidency so far, Trump gave himself an A for achievement and effort but a C or C-plus for messaging or communications. He was determined to exceed expectations in the speech -- admittedly not a high bar. He has historically low approval ratings for a new president. 

On Tuesday night, he provided a glimpse of someone who may become more than an angry cartoon character with orange hair.  He showed he can curb his insults and stick to his text. He was light on troublesome specifics and heavy on morning in America. 

For one night, anyway, the man of I, I, I discovered the small words that bring people together: we, us and our.  

“Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed,” he said. “And every problem can be solved and every hurting family can find healing and hope.”

Trump also orchestrated a long, heart-rending moment of mourning in America when he recognized Carryn Owens, the teary widow of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, one of Trump’s guests in the balcony. Her husband was killed last month in a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen.

“Ryan’s legacy is etched into eternity,” Trump said, leading a prolonged standing ovation, during which tears soaked the grieving widow’s face.  

 For someone who prizes himself on being unpredictable, the speech was notable for its normalcy.  There were no attacks on the news media or judges and no embrace of Putin and Russia. 

“The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us,” Trump said, urging Republicans and Democrats to unite behind his emerging agenda. The speech was vague enough that everyone could hear what they wanted. Some congressional Republicans thought Trump was endorsing the House leadership’s plan for health care reform; others thought not.

“Home run,” House Speaker Paul Ryan gushed about the speech. Congressional Democrats, critical of the lack of detail, were restrained in their critiques, although Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon, issued a one-word statement reacting to Trump’s address. It read: “Resist.”

And Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, said, “For those Americans looking for a clear and forward-looking agenda, tonight’s speech raised more questions than it answered. I believe the President missed an opportunity to begin to reach out beyond his political base to all Americans.” 

But Warner also said: “I have long supported investing to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure, and if President Trump is willing to work in a bipartisan fashion we can accomplish that goal.”

Warner is right. Trump’s haziness can’t last; he will propose a federal budget in a couple of weeks that will make his values clear. Whether he can maintain his bipartisan tone and composure as negotiations proceed on issues where he’s opposed will be a test.  Democrats also face a test whether they can present alternatives and become more than the Party of No.

“We are one people with one destiny,” Trump declared near the end of his speech. 

Maybe and maybe not. It will take more than one well-crafted speech to change the dynamics on Capitol Hill.  

(C) 2017 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved. 

The state of our union is . . . political -- Jan. 7, 2016 column

By MARSHA MERCER

The state of our union is strong -- unless it’s getting stronger or is the strongest ever.

Presidents from Ronald Reagan through Barack Obama have used “strong” in their State of the Union addresses to summarize the country’s current state.

It wasn’t always so simple.

On Jan. 14, 1963, President John F. Kennedy packed 66words into one sentence to assess the state of America: “And today, having witnessed in recent months a heightened respect for our national purpose and power – having seen the courageous calm of a united people in a perilous hour and having observed a steady improvement in the opportunities and well-being of our citizens – I can report to you that the state of this old but youthful Union, in the 175th year of its life, is good.”

Ah, the pre-Twitter, pre-Trump, pre-sound bite era, when reasons and context mattered and we had respect for “our national purpose.”

On Tuesday night, President Obama will give his final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. I wish he’d take a look at Democrats and Republicans, as well as at himself, and state the obvious, “My fellow Americans, in 2016 the state of our union is . . . political.”

An election year is always political, but we’ve become resigned to deferring substantive policy moves until the next president for most of a president’s second term. The State of the Union address should be a time for the president, even one on his way out, to seek common ground and work for the public good.

Instead, political calculations rule.

Obama’s address is earlier than usual because of the primary calendar. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the GOP’s vice presidential nominee four years ago, will be seated with Vice President Joe Biden on the dais behind the president. Ryan has already announced his goals for 2016.

“We have to have a conservative in the White House,” Ryan told Fox’s Sean Hannity Tuesday night. “We want a mandate election.”

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will give the Republican response. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rebranded the response as the “Republican Address,” an attempt to put it on a par with the president’s remarks.

And perhaps to launch Haley into her next political phase. Haley, 43, the daughter of Indian immigrants and the nation’s youngest governor, is on the short list of potential GOP running mates.

The opposition party always picks a rising star for the response, although it’s no guarantee of greatness. In 2010, then-Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell gave the GOP response. He was later convicted on corruption charges involving gifts from a political supporter, and is appealing.

When then-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine gave the 2006 response to George W. Bush, Kaine was thought a likely Democratic VP pick. That hasn’t happened, although Kaine did make it to the U.S. Senate.

In 2007, then-Sen. James Webb, Democrat of Virginia, responded to Bush. Webb quit the Senate after one term. His 2016 bid for the White House fizzled last year.

Speaker Ryan started the year by sending Obama a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature achievement, reverse the expansion of Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood.

The bill wasn’t about changing health policy; a veto was assumed. It was about how quickly a future Republican president could scrap Obamacare.

“The best way to win the election is to give people a choice,” Ryan said.

Obama also wants to show voters their political choice. He will deliver a nontraditional address with no long list of legislative priorities for the coming year, although there will be some, the White House says. Instead, he will talk about his and Democrats’ vision for the country.

Defying lame duck status, Obama rolled out modest efforts to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.

Obama expects little except opposition from the GOP-controlled Congress, but his year ahead looks like a cakewalk compared with what Bill Clinton faced in 1999.

In the midst of impeachment proceedings in the Senate, Clinton delivered a State of the Union address that lasted 77 minutes and never mentioned impeachment.

“The state of our union is strong,” Clinton said.

A year later, having weathered scandal and impeachment, Clinton declared in his final State of the Union, “My fellow Americans, the state of our union is the strongest it has ever been.”

May we survive politics in 2016 and be so lucky next year.

(C)2016 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.