There’s lots of political news today.
First and foremost, President Barack Obama will talk to the country tonight in his first State of the Union Address.
For the last couple of weeks it’s been the other way around. The country has been talking to Obama. Actually, they’ve been shouting at him. Or, in the case of Massachusetts voters, they’ve offered a cold slap in the face.
The nation has for the most part told the president they are not happy, with his policies, with his move to reform health care, with deficits over a trillion dollars, with bailing out failing businesses, with a federal government creeping increasingly into our lives.
Basically, they’ve said the State of the Union remains worried. They are still wary of a shaky economy, and wondering when the stimulus is going to trickle down to them. There are too many people out of work, and they continue to wait for the much-ballyhooed stimulus plan to ease that problem.
The night should be magic. In part, because this will be Obama in his element.
Let’s face it. Regardless of how you thought about President George W.
Bush, public speaking often was not his forte.
On the other hand, Obama has clearly shown the ability to rise to the moment. The man can flat-out deliver a great speech. Which is why I am looking forward to the State of the Union.
Locally, there’s another poll out today. And that means more bad news for Joe Sestak.
The State of Sestak’s Union – and his uphill campaign to snag the Democratic Senate nomination away from Sen. Arlen Specter – is becoming only more so.
A Franklin & Marshall College Poll shows Sestak trailing Specter 30 percent to 13 percent. If he’s looking for a silver lining, Sestak can take heart in the fact that the poll also showed 50 percent of voters remain undecided.
The surprise in the Senate race is that likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey now is leading over either Specter or Sestak in a general election race.
Toomey leads Specter 45-31, and Sestak by 41-19.
Don’t expect Sestak to as much as blink in the wake of the bad polling.
He’s nothing if not determined. After all, he was trailing Curt Weldon by similar numbers before ousting the longtime incumbent in the 7th District Congress race. Granted, he was helped in no small part by a probe into Weldon and raid by federal agents on the homes of a key ally and a family member, a raid that has yet to result in any charges.
Instead look for Sestak to hammer away at Specter’s electability, which continues to suffer in the wake of his party-switch.
In the meantime, Toomey can sit back and wait for November.
First and foremost, President Barack Obama will talk to the country tonight in his first State of the Union Address.
For the last couple of weeks it’s been the other way around. The country has been talking to Obama. Actually, they’ve been shouting at him. Or, in the case of Massachusetts voters, they’ve offered a cold slap in the face.
The nation has for the most part told the president they are not happy, with his policies, with his move to reform health care, with deficits over a trillion dollars, with bailing out failing businesses, with a federal government creeping increasingly into our lives.
Basically, they’ve said the State of the Union remains worried. They are still wary of a shaky economy, and wondering when the stimulus is going to trickle down to them. There are too many people out of work, and they continue to wait for the much-ballyhooed stimulus plan to ease that problem.
The night should be magic. In part, because this will be Obama in his element.
Let’s face it. Regardless of how you thought about President George W.
Bush, public speaking often was not his forte.
On the other hand, Obama has clearly shown the ability to rise to the moment. The man can flat-out deliver a great speech. Which is why I am looking forward to the State of the Union.
Locally, there’s another poll out today. And that means more bad news for Joe Sestak.
The State of Sestak’s Union – and his uphill campaign to snag the Democratic Senate nomination away from Sen. Arlen Specter – is becoming only more so.
A Franklin & Marshall College Poll shows Sestak trailing Specter 30 percent to 13 percent. If he’s looking for a silver lining, Sestak can take heart in the fact that the poll also showed 50 percent of voters remain undecided.
The surprise in the Senate race is that likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey now is leading over either Specter or Sestak in a general election race.
Toomey leads Specter 45-31, and Sestak by 41-19.
Don’t expect Sestak to as much as blink in the wake of the bad polling.
He’s nothing if not determined. After all, he was trailing Curt Weldon by similar numbers before ousting the longtime incumbent in the 7th District Congress race. Granted, he was helped in no small part by a probe into Weldon and raid by federal agents on the homes of a key ally and a family member, a raid that has yet to result in any charges.
Instead look for Sestak to hammer away at Specter’s electability, which continues to suffer in the wake of his party-switch.
In the meantime, Toomey can sit back and wait for November.
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