With Congress not helping and approval ratings that continue to slide, the upcoming State of the Union speech will be watched closely to ascertain what the President can or cannot deliver.
Usually, these speeches involve a list of policy goals and requests that require Congressional action, and it doesn’t like this speech will be any different.
That said, here are 3 things to watch out for in Obama’s State of the Union speech:
#1: Income inequality
With income inequality increasing over the last few decades, economic fairness has become an important issue more than ever. In fact, his ability to deliver will determine the success of Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections. Raising the minimum wage as well as extending benefits for those who have been unemployed for a long time can prove decisive.
#2: Immigration
Granting legal status to undocumented immigrants is now an issue that has reached resolution by both sides. However, this agreement will only hold water if, as Boehner puts it, a step-by-step approach to the problem is taken. What’s for sure is that Congressional Republicans will soon describe their policies on immigration soon.
#3: Executive Action
Obama has been clear about taking ‘executive action’ in 2014 which means bypassing Congress to attain his policy goals. There’s going to be more clarity in the speech about how he intends to use it even if the approach of asking Congress to comply doesn’t work.