An America built to last

By Donna Brazile

Universal Features Syndicate

There’s nothing like recalling history to put current matters into perspective. So I re-read a couple of past State of the Union speeches — President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 speech and President George W. Bush’s 2004 address. I think it’s instructive to place the key opening paragraphs of their speeches side-by-side with that of President Barack Obama’s speech this past Tuesday:

President Reagan, 1984:

“You and I have had some honest and open differences in the year past. But they didn’t keep us from joining hands in bipartisan cooperation to stop a long decline that had drained this nation’s spirit and eroded its health.”

President Bush, 2004:

“As we gather tonight, hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. ... Each day, law enforcement personnel and intelligence officers are tracking terrorist threats; analysts are examining airline passenger lists; the men and women of our new Homeland Security Department are patrolling our coasts and borders.”

President Obama, 2012:

“We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country.”

Embattled nation

It’s interesting, isn’t it? With the exception of the eight Bill Clinton years, we have been an embattled nation for nearly three decades. Reagan was reviving a nation grown despondent from a prolonged Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and dealing with a recession.

Bush devoted the first 30 paragraphs of his final first-term State of the Union message to our two overseas wars and foreign entanglements.

Obama began by telling us he has ended two of the foreign wars that consumed almost all our energies, and much of our national treasure: Iraq and al-Qaida. Indeed, as Obama came down the aisle of the House, he stopped to tell Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, “Leon, good job tonight. Good job.”

He was referring to the dramatic rescue of two aid workers from Somalia, today’s hotbed of terrorist activity, by the same U.S. Navy Seal team that killed bin Laden. We can be thankful our nation’s defense has been in Obama’s hands. Though distracted at home with political dissension, attacked with greater vitriol and more calumny than confronted even Lincoln, Obama had a relatively free hand in our security. Under a lesser president, we might have found ourselves overwhelmed by the activities of foreign enemies as we fought among ourselves.

The latest Pew poll showed that only 9 percent of the public thinks foreign affairs is important. By the largest margin in the 15 years the poll has been asking the question, Americans remained consumed by domestic concerns. The president listened, and devoted by far the greater portion of his State of the Union to domestic concerns.

Significant difference

There is, of course, a significant difference between Reagan’s era and this one. Reagan thanked the Congress for “joining hands in bipartisan cooperation to stop a long decline that had drained this nation’s spirit.” Reagan increased taxes; and Clinton added taxes on the wealthy, which has been cited by many economists as the key element in our ’90s prosperity.

There are many ways in which Reagan and Obama are similar: They both embody a deep belief in American family values — values not just expressed, but lived day in and day out. Both men share good-natured personalities. Both men share an optimistic outlook. And both believe that bipartisan cooperation can strengthen America, seeking that cooperation to achieve goals that benefit the American people.

There is one element missing from Obama’s administration: the “joining hands in bipartisan cooperation.” I don’t need a poll to know most Americans found broad agreement with the president’s message. Yet the Republican leaders sat glum and dumbstruck, not even applauding lines their own mothers would applaud.

In case you missed the president’s State of the Union, his 2012 plan to “Build an America to Last” has four pillars: 1) American manufacturing; 2) American energy; 3) skills for American workers; and 4) American values.

On the last point — American values — Obama’s jovial, brotherly hug of Rep. Gabby Giffords, the moderate congresswoman from Arizona who survived an assassination attempt, spoke volumes about his innate decency and down-to-earth, warm concern for the individual — each individual.

It’s a plan that will work — if the president can get Congress to join hands in bipartisan cooperation. President Obama can’t force any congressman or senator to do that. But, the voters can send those who will.

Donna Brazile is a senior Democratic strategist, a political commentator and contributor to CNN and ABC News, and a contributing columnist to Ms. Magazine and O, the Oprah Magazine. Distributed by Universal UCLICK for UFS.