The State of the Union address to be delivered by President Barack Obama will be a politically-charged speech geared to help Democrats win future House elections, Newsmax contributor John Fund says.
“All the president is right now is pure politics,’’ Fund, a senior editor of The American Spectator, told Steve Malzberg on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show.’’
“This is about making sure that the Democrats have a chance of retaking the House of Representatives in 2014.
“Then he can really pass the full legislative enchilada that he wants. That includes probably a value-added tax. That includes solidifying Obamacare and expanding a whole range of things.
“That’s what this is all about. Everything else, frankly, is play acting.’’
Fund says that “play-acting’’ extends to the GOP as well.
“I mean, ‘We want to cooperate, we want to cooperate.’ Well, you know that’s Washington speak for saying we want to bash your brains out,’’ Fund said.
“The bottom line is, people voted for divided government, you’re going to get gridlocked government. And you know, given what Congress and the president usually do, that might not be entirely a bad thing.’’
Fund predicted the president’s speech will hammer home a message that the GOP has blocked him on numerous bills.
“The president will say, ‘You know it took us a long time to get us into this mess, it’s going to take us a long time to get out of this mess, Congress has blocked my initiatives . . . Get with my program and then the economy will get better,’’’ Fund said.
The choice of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to deliver the GOP response in English and Spanish is a good one, Fund told Malzberg.
“He’s a good bridge builder . . . If the Republican Party wants to do outreach, he’s the perfect living demonstration of that attempt to outreach,’’ Fund said.
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