By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-882241.mp3
Dallas, TX –
President Obama delivers his first State of the Union address tonight. One local political scientist says the President is in a difficult spot, and the speech will be a balancing act KERA's BJ Austin reports.
In a traditional State of the Union speech, the President, at some point, utters the headline phrase: the state of the Union is fill-in-the-blank. This time, that's going to be a bit tricky, according to University of North Texas political science professor Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha. He does not expect to hear the standby phrase: the state of the union is strong. He says Mr. Obama's going to have to choose his words carefully.
Eshbaugh-Soha: The worst of them all was Gerald Ford. And he was honest. He basically said the state of the Union is a mess. And look where that got him. You kind of have to finesse it. You want to be hopeful and positive, but you don't want to sound out of touch or unrealistic.
Having lunch at the Quadrangle in Dallas, Josh Good says he's got a pretty good handle on the state of the Union: 10% unemployment and a large segment of the population without healthcare. He wants to hear about that in the President's speech.
Good: What he's going to do to fix the healthcare status that we've got going on right now: the stagnant issue that we've got between the Republicans and Democrats. I'd love to see what he is going to do about fixing that and actually getting a plan out there that works.
Professor Eshbaugh-Soha predicts bipartisan cooperation will be a primary theme.
Eshbaugh-Soha: It's a delicate line making sure that he doesn't lose his proverbial base; doesn't offend members of his party, but also find some issue that he can reach out to Republicans.
Eshbaugh-Soha expects the President Obama will use his considerable oratorical skill to "paint a picture of hope", and demonstrate his passion for progress.
KERA will air the President's State of the Union address tonight at 8pm.