Opinion: Obama's 'Morning in America' Speech

Seeing New York Republican Congressman Peter King sit next to Democrat Anthony Weiner at the State of the Union speech on Tuesday reminded me of Thanksgiving at my house. Even if it's only once a year, it's a nice gesture.

What a shame that Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., claimed that sitting together was a Democratic plot to make their numbers look larger, and that he didn't want to have to do that to view Obama "spew his venom." Broun's response to the speech itself was no less ridiculous, claiming, "You don't believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism." Funny that Broun spewed disdain while the president offered lines like, "We will move forward together, or not at all -- for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics." Pretty venomous, right?

President Obama's speech was the opposite of venom. This was a "morning in America" presentation, an exaltation of America's greatness.

We were given a glimpse of a horizon, where exist new markets, new kinds of jobs, new technology and new energy sources.

Our great system of education for all was underscored, while discussing how it can be improved with the "Race to the Top" program.

And the president didn't shirk from the hot-button issue of undocumented workers whose children go to our colleges, serve in our military and deserve a place in the American landscape.

He rightfully called for the building of infrastructure, which not only stimulates the economy but puts Americans to work and prepares us for the future. And he made sure to assert that Muslims are "part of the American family."

Because advance copies of the speech are made available, Republicans were firing off objections even before the speech was given.

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, questioned whether the president was committed to what he said, stating: "President Obama may have offered a change in tone, but it's still unclear when he will offer the change in his policies that voters asked for on Election Day. Americans ended the Democrats' one-party rule in Washington because they want a government accountable to the people. Unfortunately, the American people heard President Obama call for even more government spending under his familiar sales pitch for innovation and job creation."

Had the president not talked about the American spirit of innovation and job creation, you can be sure he would have been criticized for not focusing on jobs.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., gave the doom-and-gloom Republican response, threatening that Democratic policies would drive us to the economic brink. He criticized the president's stimulative initiatives but didn't acknowledge his own record of spending. Ryan voted for all five Bush budgets between 2002 and 2007, accounting for $12.15 trillion in spending and a doubling of the national debt to $10 trillion. Obama's proposed spending freeze wasn't good enough for South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who said we needed cuts, not a freeze, ignoring that a freeze, by its very nature, already requires cuts. But DeMint has been unable to answer just where he'd cut and, contrary to the idea of working with Democrats, has stated that his goal is "complete gridlock."

Lucky for the Democrats, there was a Republican response to the Republican response by tea partier Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman who thought John Quincy Adams was a founder and that the Adams family and other founders "worked tirelessly until slavery was no more." Bachmann continued her campaign of either ignorance or lies by claiming the IRS would have to utilize 16,500 IRS agents to enforce the derisively named "Obamacare," something that has been thoroughly debunked. She also repeated the claim that health care reform would lead to a government takeover, which was the 2010 PolitiFact lie of the year.

The president offered to listen to good ideas about how to improve the Affordable Health Care Act, in spite of what we've already heard from Republicans, that they want to "repeal and replace," with no effective replacement plan in site. In fact, more than one Republican has said they want to rip health care reform out "by its roots."

Obama's efforts to work together with the other side was also seemingly lost on the conservative members of the Supreme Court, some of whom didn't want to be there, even though they had no such difficulty attending when George W. Bush was in office.

But the president's speech scored with those who saw it, with 84 percent having a positive or somewhat positive reaction. So while the Brouns, Ryans and Bachmanns of the world may think they are in step with the American public, the president's increasing poll numbers and the reaction to this speech would indicate otherwise.