Jeff Madrick and Tom Ferguson Sound Off on Real Messages of the SOTU

After Obama’s State of the Union on Tuesday, Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellows Jeff Madrick and Tom Ferguson took to the airwaves to dissect it. Was there substance behind the soaring rhetoric? Can the proposed policies really solve our economic ills?

Jeff Madrick joined Eliot Spitzer on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown, and his analysis could be summed up as: “It was a tougher speech than I expected.”

Daily Digest »

January 27: Sums More Equal Than Others

What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.

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Compiled with the help of Roosevelt Institute intern Elena Callahan.

Jobs, Jobs and Cars (NYT)
Paul Krugman notes that the GOP praises Steve Jobs for the independent vision that put so many to work (in China), but hates the auto bailout for showing that a healthy economy sometimes depends on the government, not Randian supermen.

Is Obama’s ‘Economic Populism’ for Real? (Rolling Stone)
Matt Taibbi writes that President Obama certainly wants to appear like he’s started taking corruption seriously, but appointing Eric Schneiderman to his financial fraud task force…

Legacy Lessons »

Obama Rediscovers FDR’s Aggressive Economic Policy

By telling the story of post-War America’s prosperity in the State of the Union, President Obama highlights a path we should take today: forceful government action.

In his annual State of the Union Address, President Obama spoke of the generation of Americans who “triumphed over a depression and fascism” to build “the strongest economy and middle class the world has ever known.” He made reference to his grandfather, a veteran of World War II, who returned from combat and went college on the G.I. Bill. He also referenced his grandmother, who worked on a bomber assembly line as “part of a workforce…

Funding the Academic War on Financial Reform

Wall Street is funneling money toward error-riddled studies that stand to muddy the important conversation about implementing Dodd-Frank.

“The moon so long has been gazing down
on the wayward ways of this wayward town
my smile becomes a smirk, I go to work” - Cole Porter

Over the holidays, I finally watched the film Inside Job and was struck by the final section highlighting the corruption of academics by the financial services industry. It was a good thing that I had waited so long to drop the DVD into the player. Real life experience had provided important context.

A year ago, I became deeply involved in…

Was the Womancession Addressed in the SOTU?

Beyond some symbolic gestures, keeping women employed may be fading from the president’s radar.

In President Obama’s speech before a joint session of Congress in September of last year, I didn’t expect to hear much about the womancession. But I was pleasantly surprised. The plan he put forward had the womancession in its crosshairs: it included $30 billion to prevent up to 280,000 teacher layoffs, among other supports to keep women in the public sector in their jobs.

Government jobs are key to keeping women employed. During this weak recovery period, women have gained only three percent of the 1.4 million jobs added…

Daily Digest »

January 26: American Dream Team

What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.

Click here to receive the Daily Digest via e-mail.

Compiled with the help of Roosevelt Institute intern Elena Callahan.

Obama’s rhetorical shift from hope to teamwork (WaPo)
EJ Dionne writes that Obama’s third State of the Union laid out a reelection narrative as clearly as Reagan’s warnings about the growth of government or Clinton’s eulogy for big government, but with a very different message: government works.

Obama Can Win Big With FDR Formula (HuffPo)
Robert S. McElvaine notes that if Obama wants to do more than squeak out a second term, he has to recognize that it’s better…

The Cutter Report »

The State of the Union: President Obama’s Evolving Vision

Obama is getting closer to the reset that will be necessary to get the country back on track but still has some substantial progress to make.

Last night was by far President Obama’s best State of the Union speech. As you would expect, this is not everyone’s view. Governor Romney called it “detached” from reality. Michael Gerson said, “Obama’s reelection was the unifying theme of last night’s speech.” Dana Milbank said, “Obama’s speech was flat.” The Wall Street Journal saw it as a populist pitch.

I thought it was well structured, set the right tone, and began to provide an actual vision of the economy of the…

The New Guard »

Obama’s SOTU Charts a Course Toward a Prosperous Millennial America

With work still yet to be done, President Obama’s State of the Union kept the momentum from the 2008 election going for young Americans.

In November 2008, I voted in my first presidential election. The summer had been a brutal battle for the Democratic nomination, and young people were campaigning in record numbers to take hold of our futures (and, of course, that of “Joe the Plumber”). That fall, approximately 23 million young people comprised almost two-thirds of the overall 5.4 million voter turnout increase. NDN states that the Millennial Generation (born 1978 - 2000) voted for Barack Obama by a 34-point…

Obama Makes the Case for Government

The president didn’t go as far as he needed to, but he began to articulate an argument that the American people need to hear.

The president’s State of the Union speech last night was not a progressive’s delight. But it straightforwardly and strongly put forth a case for government that the president has heretofore not made. Perhaps America is again ready to listen after the dominance of an anti-government narrative for so long.

Last night, the president covered a lot of territory, and in fact almost all the important bases. He made several unfortunate nods to the right, including proudly boasting of…

The New Guard »

What Lessons Can We Learn from Obama’s SOTU Proposals on Education?

The president’s speech brought up core issues facing our educational system but he didn’t always go far enough.

Obama’s State of the Union focused minimally on education. However, what he did say fits with the administration’s existing policy. Focusing on retraining our workforce through partnerships with community colleges is key. Most community colleges are already well equipped to do the technical training and re-training needed for both young people and older workers to succeed in our ever-more technologically complex manufacturing economy. Additional financial support from the federal government will help make community college more affordable, especially for those out of work.…