SOTU Post-game Action
Obama Engages Americans on Vision for America. Voice of America: “President Barack Obama is on the road, meeting face-to-face with Americans following a lofty State of the Union address that painted an optimistic vision for America in the years to come, while acknowledging deep divides over a variety of issues. Following the speech widely broadcast on television and multi-media platforms, the president traveled to Nebraska where he first stopped at the home of an Omaha-area woman for a living room discussion.”
Obama to offer in budget to extend deadline for Medicaid expansion. Reuters: “ President Barack Obama will offer a financial incentive in his fiscal 2017 budget proposal to 19 state governments that passed up an earlier offer to help pay to expand Medicaid coverage to more low-income residents, the White House said on Thursday. …Obama’s new proposal would give states more time to opt in, and would pay for the expansion for three years, the White House said in a release. The expansion would provide health insurance coverage to more than four million low-income people in those states, the White House said.”
Thom Hartmann debunks the “myth of bipartisanship” after Obama’s SOTU address: “What made Lincoln and FDR great wasn’t the fact that they made compromises with their enemies; what made them great was the fact that they fought their enemies and supported policies that were right, even if they made people on the other side of the aisle really, really angry. This probably sounds a little bizarre to some people. Bipartisanship, or at least the myth of bipartisanship, is so ingrained in our culture that many Americans forget what it really took for great presidents to become great.”
GOP Debate
Republican debate sure to highlight party’s fractured field. Associated Press: “The prime-time showdown in South Carolina will highlight a race that has cleaved into two distinct — and increasingly heated — contests. After months of civility toward rival Ted Cruz, front-runner Donald Trump is aggressively targeting the Texan, positing that the Canadian-born senator may be ineligible to be president. Four other candidates are fighting to become the more mainstream Republican alternative to the pair of anti-Washington candidates leading the field. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is seen by some as having a slim edge, opening him up to a torrent of criticism from his rivals about his voting record in the Senate and his immigration policy, as well as the 44-year-old’s youth and relative inexperience.”
Republican National Committee Worried About Contested Convention. Time:
“Seven months before the start of the party’s nominating convention in Cleveland, members of the Republican Party’s governing authority are expressing concern that the GOP isn’t prepared for the possibility of a contested convention. At the party’s winter meeting in Charleston, talk of a contested, or multi-balloted, convention has been rampant through the hallways of the luxury Belmond Charleston Place hotel. Even top party officials are torn between their political curiosity and the daunting challenge of effectively managing the sort of convention not seen in two generations, before the advent of cable news or even Star Wars.”
Breakfast Sides
Maine Governor May Have Abused Power. US News & World Report: “After months of talk of impeachment, critics of Gov. Paul LePage are ready to introduce an impeachment order to investigate allegations of abuse of power. A group of lawmakers led by Democratic Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland submitted the impeachment order, which was due to be debated Thursday on the House floor.The proposal, which faces long odds, aims to punish the Republican governor for using influence to pressure a school operator into taking back a job offer from Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves, who responded by filing a civil lawsuit in federal court.”
Kansas Governor Cuts Off Planned Parenthood Funding. Huffington Post: “Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has ordered state officials to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates through the state Medicaid program, a move the organization said on Wednesday it would challenge in court. Brownback, a Republican, said in his state of the state address on Tuesday that he would direct the state health secretary to ensure that no taxpayer money go to Planned Parenthood, which he said trafficked in baby body parts. 'No longer will we send the money of hard-working Kansans to fund an industry that disrespects life and violates the moral conscience of our people,' Brownback said in a statement."
NTY’s Charles Blow writes of Barack Obama’s legacy in the lives of children who came of age during his presidency: “Obama is the first black president — and may well be the last, who knows — and that alone has a historical weight and impact on this generation that will play out for generations to come. He has not been a perfect president. … But he has simply, miraculously, won the position (twice!) and successfully negotiated the space — so well, in fact, that race is tangential to his record. He has opened yet another door of possibility, erased yet another myth of inadequacy, expanded yet another plane on which children can dream.”
