As Abraham Lincoln once said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand". And while this might be a logical thought, a divided house has been standing since 1776. America has had a bipartisan political system ever since its birth over 200 years ago. Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans, Whigs and Jacksonian Democrats, Democrats and Republicans. Other parties have risen and fallen, some gaining representatives, but rarely has there ever been a time in the United States when more than two parties dominated Congress. And right now is certainly not one of those times. While we might not be breaking into war over our differences like we did when Lincoln spoke these words, the country is nonetheless divided. And if the reactions to last night's State of the Union is any indication, the media is helping to fuel this two-party system.
Depending on where you get your internet news, you could read that the State of the Union address was an inspiring wake up call for America or a resounding, dull failure. Some reactions called it "messy, incoherent, disorganized, and most regrettably defiant". Others calimed it laid out a clear roadmap for the country's future. According to the left-center New York Times, Obama's speech last night was an effort to calm Democrats about the upcoming elections. The New York Times also credited Obama's accomplishments over the past year, after inheriting a mess from the previous administration. And overall, the Democrats' review of the speech was positive, citing it as "a reminder that [Obama] is a gifted orator, able to inspire with grand vision and the simple truth frankly spoken. It was a long time coming". The right-center news sources tended to be less receptive to the State of the Union address. Fox News called the speech "a sizable failure". While the Democrats applauded Obama's call for bipartisan cooperation, the Republicans denounced it claiming that Obama has been unreceptive to their ideas. Perhaps the most obvious sign of the country's divided political was during the address itself; as every few minutes the Democrats would rise in unison to applaud, while the Republicans remained seated, shaking their heads in amusement.
At the beginning of the address, President Omaba laid out the theme for the rest of the speech as well as his vision for the country's future: "So we face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope -– what they deserve -– is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories, different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared". Whether this call for cooperation comes true or proves to be just beautiful rhetoric is yet to be determined. But if the past and the media are any precedent, our partisan two-party system will continue as long as this divided house stands.
Works Cited:
The New York Times "Text: Obama’s State of the Union Address"
The New York Times "Where Clinton Turned Right, Obama Plowed Ahead"
CNN "Reaction to the State of the Union address"
Fox News "Obama's Sorry State of the Union Speech"
The New York TImes "The Second Year"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/hero/624x351/_MG_0474-hero.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment