Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker said he hoped President Barack Obama will go "beyond the rhetoric" of his State of the Union speech Tuesday night and look for areas where Republicans and Democrats could find common ground.
Obama received criticism for his speech emphasizing proposals for programs that were popular among Democrats, but had little chance of passing in a Republican-controlled Congress. Walker said it was fine for Obama to "lay out his party's agenda," but the State of the Union address was meant to speak to the American people, and not present a political platform.
"My hope is, for the good of the country, not just one party or the other, that this president will go beyond the rhetoric," Walker told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday. "This is a State of the Union. Not the State of the Democrat Party."
Walker said he agreed with Obama's statements on support for France after the Jan. 7 terrorist attack in Paris and his "acclaim for the men and women in the United States military." He said he would have liked to have heard Obama also address areas of bipartisan agreement, such as "worker training, workforce development."
"I think those are things empowering the states, governors, and state lawmakers in both political parties to do more, empowering the federal government to give up some of those things, so that the states can do things that help people get the training they need to fill many of the careers that are available today," he said.
Republicans and Democrats could also find agreement on policies to work with Washington on issues including transportation, infrastructure, education, and healthcare, he said.
Obama's foreign policy errors were not so much due to a lack of experience, Walker said, but had more to do with leadership, adding that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had experience, but suggested problems followed her involvement in other countries.
"You look at most of the places where she played a direct hand, in Russia, in the Middle East, and other places around the world, it's largely messed up right now," he said.
Walker and Clinton are rumored to be interested in running for the White House in 2016, though neither has announced their candidacy.
Walker said Obama's foreign policy failings were "mainly because he's made threats, and he hasn't followed through on them."
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