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Caught between disgruntled voters and a
president urging them to press ahead on divisive issues such as
health care, Democratic lawmakers must soon decide whether Barack
Obama is leading them toward statesmanlike courage or political
folly.
      

Obama used his first State of the Union speech Wednesday to try
to hit the reset button on health care and to offer a hodgepodge of
tax breaks and other incentives to create new jobs. He mixed
overtures with digs toward Republicans. But he mainly addressed
fellow Democrats, who still can enact his agenda if they overcome
fears fueled by events such as last week's stunning GOP victory in
the Massachusetts Senate race.
      

That setback may have cost Democrats their filibuster-proof
Senate majority, Obama said, but "we still have the largest
majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some
problems, not run for the hills."
      

He accepted partial blame for the deep troubles facing his
health care push, but he implored lawmakers to finish the task
rather than yield to public opposition.
      

"The longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became,"
Obama told the joint session of Congress and a nationwide TV
audience. But health care problems will continue for millions, he
said, and "I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither
should the people in this chamber."
      

House and Senate Democratic leaders are scrambling to see if
they can salvage the ambitious health care package, which
Republicans almost universally oppose. Obama's pep talk was a call
to arms, but he offered no new strategies for overcoming the steep
parliamentary and political hurdles they face.
      

The president devoted most of his 65-minute speech to
job-creation proposals, such as eliminating capital gains taxes on
small business investment and extending tax breaks for businesses
to invest in new plants and equipment. But those proposals also
face uncertainty in Congress, where Senate Democrats say they may
need a selective, piecemeal approach to win enough votes.
      

Obama said Republicans share a responsibility for governing, and
he proposed meeting with their House and Senate leaders monthly.
But his olive branch seemed brittle at times.
      

Without naming George W. Bush, he pointedly noted that the
previous administration left him a big deficit and a deeply
troubled economy. For good measure, Obama said the United States
killed more al-Qaida terrorists in 2009 than in 2008.
      

Obama rebuked the Supreme Court for a recent decision that
"reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special
interests" and foreign corporations to make unlimited campaign
contributions. At that, conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel
Alito made a dismissive face, shook his head in disagreement and
seemed to mouth the words "not true" as the president spoke.
      

Republicans in the House chamber generally greeted such remarks
with stony gazes and smirks. The statements they issued as soon as
Obama finished - or even before he finished, in some cases - were
equally icy.
      

"We had hoped to hear a new commitment to keep his promises to
govern from the center, change the tone in Washington, and work
with both parties in a bipartisan way to help small businesses
create jobs and get our economy moving again," said House
Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio. "Unfortunately, the
president and the Democrats in charge of Congress still aren't
listening to the American people."
      

Obama has the luxury of waiting until 2012 to seek re-election,
while all 435 House seats and a third of the Senate seats are up
for grabs this November. Some Democrats most nervous about the
election are urging the administration to slow down, especially on
the health care issue that has dominated Congress's attention for
months.
      

Obama gave them no comfort. "Change has not come fast enough"
for millions of Americans, he said. "We must answer history's
call."
      

At the same time, however, the president tried to give Democrats
some political cover on other sensitive issues, such as the bank
bailouts that angered many voters.
      

"We all hated the bank bailout," he said. "I hated it. You
hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal."
      

The president also tried to chip away at GOP talking points.
      

"Let me repeat, we cut taxes," he said, citing his
administration's tax cuts "for 95 percent of working families."
      

Republicans are quick to note that the deficit has soared during
Obama's year in office, and proposals such as the health care
overhaul would impose new taxes on high-end medical insurance
policies, among other things.
      

In their post-speech commentaries, several Democrats ignored
nearly all of Obama's remarks except those aimed at creating jobs,
the biggest issue on voters' minds.
      

"His focus was right where it belongs: on jobs and the economy,
and on reforming the financial sector," said Sen. Carl Levin,
D-Mich. "He acknowledged his own mistakes, and he avoided pointing
partisan fingers."
      

Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee,
was less charitable.
      

If Obama is serious about improving the economy, Steele said,
"he will give Republicans a seat at the table. If not, then we
know that this is just more spin, arrogance and a refusal to listen
to the American people."
      
      

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