Clinton’s ’95 State of Union Offers Obama a Model

In 1995, President Bill Clinton was seeking to rebound from the drubbing that Democrats suffered in midterm elections the previous year, just as President Barack Obama is now. And Clinton’s State of the Union address that year offers a model from which the current president might borrow, The Hill reports.

“After Democrats were thoroughly trounced in the midterms just two years after his own election, Clinton used his address to call for deficit cuts, a more civil tone in politics and a return to making the American Dream a real possibility for all,” the news service states.

“Sixteen years later, President Obama’s Tuesday address will sound a familiar note, judging from the president’s own comments in recent days and leaks from the White House about the speech.

The White House is hoping the political symmetry will continue with Obama’s re-election in 2012.”