Give the Man an Eleven: Trump's Address to Congress

I am not a big fan of the typical State of the Union speech or other addresses to Congress by the President. Those are usually full of nonsensical promises and word smithing trying to go Shakespearean and proving overwrought and pedestrian instead--kind of like that sentence. I have to make an exception for President Trump's address to the Congress on February 28.  It was simply outstanding.

There was little in the way of fancy rhetorical flourishes and Trump does not have the mellifluous actor's delivery of Ronald Reagan, but . . . Dang! That was one helluva speech! It was aspirational, inspirational, and practical all at the same time. He spoke some great truths about our time and delivered it in strong, clear language easy to understand and hard to ignore. He was optimistic even as he painted a dire picture of our current state. It was a superb piece of writing, and laid out an ambitious but, I think, doable scheme for the next four to eight years.

Trump did not pull punches. The Democrats who have been smearing and deriding him as a simpleton and a racist, got outflanked not only on their right but on their left. He opened with a powerful call for an end to anti-semitism and other forms of violent hatred; he hammered away at his standard theme that the progressive policies, including education, of the past decades have caused great harm to black urban Americans. He came at the immigration issue in a way this humble blog has advocated for a long time (here, here, here): our immigration policy is a disaster both in national security and in economic terms. The unrestricted immigration we now have depressed wages, puts a strain on public assistance programs, and produces serious threats to the safety and lives of ordinary citizens. He hit the poorly negotiated globalist trade deals for their impact on the American worker--even soliciting applause from Bernie Sanders--and doubled down on revamping them so that we would have "fair trade." He boldly challenged Congress, controlled by an at-times wavering Republican majority, to end the fake health insurance known as Obamacare, to approve a new tax code that will promote investment and jobs, and to launch a Yuge private-public infrastructure development plan. He vowed a non-interventionist foreign policy but one based on military and economic strength.  He also said the taboo words, "radical Islamic terrorism."

Let me return to the subject of Obamacare on which he stated,

Obamacare premiums nationwide have increased by double and triple digits. As an example, Arizona went up 116 percent last year alone. Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky just said Obamacare is failing in his State -- it is unsustainable and collapsing. One third of counties have only one insurer on the exchanges --- leaving many Americans with no choice at all. 

Remember when you were told that you could keep your doctor, and keep your plan? 

We now know that all of those promises have been broken.

 Having heard Trump say that, I was surprised by the somewhat bizarre Democratic response. It was delivered by no-less than the previous governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear, sitting in a cafe trying very hard to look folksy and just coming off as old and tired. Beshear doubled down on Obamacare, bragging about its implementation in Kentucky, precisely the state in which, as Trump reported, the current governor says it's a total disaster. Anyhow, read it for yourselves and I think you will find it an odd and insipid "rebuttal."

OK, OK, I know that a lot of what Trump said he wants to do would cost megabucks, but, but if we can get the economy moving again, there is no reason we can't pay for this stuff.

That's my two-cents at this late hour. Maybe upon further reflection I will write more, but for now I am happy to note that we seem to have a very real president. Very different than what we've had for the previous eight years.