Obama’s problem with “the vision thing” – Jeffrey Feldman on what was left out of the #SOTU

Sharp analysis, and Feldman even provides an excellent solution for Obama to adapt what he is saying into what he should be saying to communicate his big-picture view of America.

Clipped from jeffrey-feldman.typepad.com

No matter how strong President Obama’s performance was in his first State of the Union address–and it was a very strong performance–at best he gave the American public pieces of the puzzle, but did not give voice to his big picture.

Invest in green industry, put people back to work, cut taxes for the middle class, revoke Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, drawn down forces in Iraq, limit corporate political donations–yes to all, but why? What is the fundamental story of America in the world that grounds all these individual pieces in an overarching moral logic? After one year in the White House, the President still has not told us.

Rather than advancing his own vision, President Obama set his reform agenda amidst these two warring ideas–where it was ripped to pieces.

And so it was, and so it will be, for every piece of reform he sends to Congress.

After one year of pushing “pragmatism” justified by polling on swing voters, the results are bad.