Reality check: Obama gropes for a strategy

A good analysis of Obama's State of the Union speech at POLITICO:

Obama came into office promising to shatter expectations of what was possible in Washington. The talk then was of a presidential "big bang" — health care, global warming, and financial reform legislation all in one year — and chief of staff Rahm Emanuel boasted that his motto was to "never let a serious crisis go to waste."

With the big-bang strategy officially a failure, Obama's speech revealed in real-time a president groping for a new and more effective one. The speech was woven with frequent acknowledgements that the laws of political gravity applied to him after all.

The first and most pressing legislative goals he identified were a comparatively small jobs bill that has passed the House but is languishing in the Senate, and a Bill Clinton-style menu of tax incentives for business.

Health care, the consuming issue of 2009 and the one on which Obama aides insisted they should be judged, did not show up until more than halfway through.

Read more at the link below:Reality check: President Obama gropes for a strategy - John F. Harris - POLITICO.com