Presidential Hopefuls Pan Obama, Hit the Stump

5 min read

Deviation Actions

PoliticalDebateClub's avatar
Published:
74 Views
Each time the president gives the State of the Union address, opponents come prepared with some usual talking points. Invariably, the criticisms come along the lines of “missed opportunities” and approaches that “just aren’t working.” There’s almost always “disappointment.”

And while much of that held this year, President Obama’s internally focused, legacy-framing address gave Republicans who want his job an opportunity to focus on their own campaign themes.

Republicans running for president took the speech, considered by many to be a passing of the baton, as a chance to hone their own pitches. Potential candidates launched into a campaign-like mode, lamenting the “stale” policies of the past while trying to differentiate themselves from one another.

And just as the president is hitting the road this week to talk about his proposals, Republican candidates are on the travel circuit, too. About a dozen possible contenders will gather in Iowa this weekend for a conservative confab to test out some of their ideas and rhetoric in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced Wednesday he will lead a trade mission to the United Kingdom next month. Earlier this week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he would also travel across the pond. Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have already made the trip. Christie and Jeb Bush were also in Washington this week.

Potential candidates shared their thoughts on Instagram, Vine videos, Facebook, YouTube, cable news shows and at press briefings. Most of them took issue with the president’s tax proposals, accusing him of waging class warfare.

The potential candidates also blasted the president for ignoring Democrats’ monumental losses in the November election. Others, including Chris Christie, dismissed the president’s address as little more than a divisive campaign speech.

The president “ignores the fact that the country has elected a Congress that favors smaller government and lower taxes,” said Mitt Romney, who lost to Obama in 2012 and is considering a third run for the president.

“It’s unfortunate President Obama wants to use the tax code to divide us,” said Jeb Bush, who would rival Romney for the establishment lane. “What we need is broad-based reforms so that all people can rise up,” he said in an Instagram video Wednesday outside the Capitol, repeating a bland statement from the night before.

“Pitting one American against another is not a pathway toward prosperity,” said Rand Paul in a 12-minute YouTube video.

The Kentucky senator’s response was among the most interesting, dismissing the president's optimism. Instead, Paul argued that the state of the union was not, in fact, strong, attempting to tap into Americans’ concerns and feelings about the economy.

“I wish I had better news for you, but all is not well in America. America is adrift. Something is clearly wrong. America needs many things, but what America desperately needs is new leadership,” he said.

Paul, who spent the last week in New Hampshire and Nevada, also took the opportunity to make his own pitch. “Not only do we need new blood in Washington, we need a new way of thinking in Washington,” he said. “As a physician, I was taught first to do no harm, to think before you act, to analyze the unintended consequences of your actions. I think America would be better off if all our politicians took that same approach.”

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has said he will soon decide whether to launch a presidential bid, has made Cuba policy his focus. In a show of protest against the restoration of economic ties to the country, Rubio brought a Cuban dissident as his guest to the State of the Union.

But Rubio is also sharpening his 2016 pitch as a candidate equipped to deal with current times. While many in his party have been making the case for governors, Rubio argued senators make good commanders-in-chief because of their involvement in foreign policy.

“The next president of the United States needs to be someone who has a clear view of what’s happening in the world, a clear strategic vision of America’s role in it, and a clear tactical plan for how to engage America in global affairs. And I think for governors, that’s going to be a challenge, at least initially,” he told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor roundtable on Wednesday. “They don’t deal with foreign policy on a daily basis … I’ve certainly been very engaged in the national security and foreign policy debates.”

Wisconsin’s Walker, however, took the opportunity to make the case for governors like himself. “Our American revival is not going to be led by a lame-duck president who would rather pick fights with Congress. It will be led ​by reformers who know how to get things done,” he said in a statement.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took issue with the president’s omission of immigration and his executive order in his address. (The official GOP responder, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, did not address immigration, but Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who delivered the Spanish-language response, did.)

Cruz also assessed the Democratic field, saying in an interview with Fox News that the party’s nominee will likely engage the same “far left” policies.

But notably, Cruz suggested it was time for Republicans to leave Obama in the rearview. The president isn’t running again, and the GOP will have to do more than just run against him in 2016 if they want to be successful. “It's time to move beyond him, and to focus instead on new and bold leadership,” he said in his own video message from the Capitol.

Caitlin Huey-Burns is a congressional reporter for RealClearPolitics. She can be reached at chueyburns@realclearpolitics.com. Follow her on Twitter @CHueyBurnsRCP.

Read more here: www.realclearpolitics.com/arti…
© 2015 - 2024 PoliticalDebateClub
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In