Tonight, January 12th, President Obama will deliver his last State of the Union address at the US Capitol. Matt Laslo caught up with Virginia lawmakers about what they’re hoping to hear.
This year’s election was supposed to focus on the economy, but now with the growth of the Islamic State and growing fears from most Americans, foreign policy is the number one issue. Virginia Republican Congressman Rob Wittman says the president needs to rally the nation around a new war strategy.
“The current strategy we know isn’t working. We haven’t seen any measurable impact on ISIS. I want to hear a clear specific cogent strategy, with specific tactics and as well as time frames to get things done.”
It’s not just Republicans saying that. Northern Virginia Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly says the president needs to rally the country behind a plan to combat violent extremists.
“The starting point is to acknowledge those fears, after San Bernardino and Paris, it’s understandable. If you don’t do that, I think you drive people into the arms of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz who want to demagogue and want to exploit those fears for their own ends.”
Then there’s the economy. Virginia Republican Congressman Dave Brat says the president needs to get serious about the nation’s finances.
“The Democrats don’t have a budget that ever balances out to infinity. We have a budget that balances in 10 years - that’s not good enough but it’s way better than no alternative.”
Virginia Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith says the president’s State of the Union addresses have been “illogical” in the past and that his promises often don’t mesh with reality. He points to one benchmark the president laid out in two thousand eleven.
“He talked about getting rid of the coal, and putting a million - ‘by 2015 we’ll have a million electric cars on the road - how’s he think he’s going to power those cars? With coal. But you know in the same speech he says he’s going to get rid of coal and have a million electric cars on the road? Which by the way I don’t think happened.”
It didn’t. The administration reports only about a third of that amount of electric cars are rolling down America’s streets. Griffith says he’s got a plan for the address. “We’ll be there and I’ll bite my tongue and sit in the back so I don’t have any excited utterances that make the national news.”
