What wasn't in State of the Union?
Story highlights President Barack Obama didn't mention or comparatively downplayed a number of key issues in his State of the Union He mostly avoided ObamaCare and immigration reform, despite acting on those issues during his time in office He also ignored gun control and campaign finance reform, two of progressives' pet priorities
In the 70-minute-long address, the President gave only lip service to immigration reform. He made no remarks on protecting Social Security and Medicare just as Republicans have hinted at a coming battle over welfare reform and only passing reference to the crowning achievement of his first term, Obamacare, just as it's beginning to bear fruit for many Americans. And he didn't mention the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline by name, which Republicans favor as a job-creation opportunity but the White House has said Obama would veto.
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The speech was overall a rallying cry to progressives, a promise that he'll put up a fight for their priorities now that he's freed from the bounds of another reelection fight. It drew widespread praise from congressional Democrats, and near-uniform dismissal from Republicans.
But the omissions were a reminder that, though the President's popularity is on an upswing, his legacy remains unclear and his final two years in office will still be full of challenges.
The immigration reform snub was perhaps his most glaring hole. Obama only warned against "refighting past battles on immigration when we've got a system to fix," and called for empathy towards immigrants.
"Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is taken from her child, and that it's possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants," he said during Tuesday night's speech.
That's in contrast to his 2013 State of the Union speech, when he called for Congress to pass a comprehensive reform bill and declared: "Let's get this done."
Even last year he demanded, "let's get immigration reform done this year."
On this issue, however, Obama may be feeling less urgency because he's already done some of the work on his own, with his executive action delaying deportations for millions of immigrant families last year. But the omission underscores what a prickly subject it remains politically, one that's already the center of another spending fight on Capitol Hill that will come to a head next month.
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What wasn't in State of the Union?