Non State of the Union—State of the Union

What’s the prime-time speech by President Obama all about Tuesday night?

It’s not a State of the Union (he’s only been in office slightly more than a month), but, then it is….well,sort of.

This first month his agenda has been all about the economy, by necessity. In addition to the stimulus legislation, there have also been the efforts at bipartisanship. Today he’s hosting a fiscal responsibility summit at the White House and he still has two cabinet posts to fill. So there is plenty on the immediate plate.

But Tuesday would seem to be sort of a pause… let’s depart briefly from the problems of the moment and look into the future. In that way, it will be like a State of the Union speech, and those often get loaded up issue-heavy like a Christmas tree. This will be his big picture agenda—expanding education, greener energy sources, better financial industry regulation and…trying to significantly trim the $1.3 trillion deficit by the end of his first term.

On January 15, 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a State of the Union address that proclaimed: “…the State of the Union is not good.” He also said: “I have got bad news, and I don’t expect much, if any, applause.”

President Obama has stepped into a flying airplane in terms of pressing problems. It would seem that President Ford’s words for that time are certainly applicable to today. The issue is: where do we go from here?

Stay tuned.