The State of Dis-Union Address

AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS PIECE APPEARS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ON JANUARY 30, 2014

"Yes I can, because they won't" is what happens when reality meets soaring expectation. Gone is the vision of a new world in which great change is inevitable. What remains is much smaller, more manageable. In his sixth year on the job, President Obama has been forced to abandon even the pretense of hope for a united state of American politics.

This has become a place where executive order substitutes for congressional action.  Where cheer-leading for states to move, without federal mandate, from the present ludicrously inadequate minimum wage to living wage becomes the new cry. Where exhortations for enacting big, sweeping legislation on issues like gun control now merit not even a passing comment. Where almost nothing feels probable and very little feels possible from those sitting in the room where the President was speaking.

In this environment, it is really quite remarkable that anything at all has been accomplished. The President began his address with an overview of the progress that has been made in recent times. Despite the worst of intentions by the Republican party, in some areas things are indeed better. But this has come despite, not because of, the intransigence of those whose mission has been to make the President ineffective and inconsequential.

And so, Mr. Obama does what he can with the cards he has been dealt. Little things around the edges. It is a long way from that night in Chicago when everything seemed possible.