President Barack Obama avoided “the most important issue of all’’ in his State of the Union address — the mushrooming national debt, Lanny Davis, the former advisor to President Bill Clinton, told Newsmax.
“I think Obama is a very good speaker and comes across very well. You can’t take away what is his greatest strength — but I was disappointed with the substance,’’ said Davis, a lawyer, political commentator and columnist.
“He gave a very good speech without dealing with the most important issue of all — repaying our debt.’’
In addition, “the speech didn’t move one Republican to support a single position he articulated,’’ he said.
Davis said the Republican rebuttal given by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio deserved a grade of “B.’’
“He did a really good job. I was very impressed with Sen. Rubio. I don’t agree with him, but I think he is of tremendous sincerity and comes across well,’’ Davis said.
He noted that Rubio “did not say one word to work with Democrats — even on immigration.’’
Overall, said Davis, whose columns appear in Newsmax, both Obama’s speech and Rubio’s rebuttal reveal “that nothing has changed — the polarization, the dysfunction’’ in Washington remains.
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