Trump needs to tout economy during State of the Union address: Kennedy
Tomorrow night is the president's first State of the Union address and expect it to be the most watched since January 2002. People will be tuning in not just to see how the greatest salesman on earth sells his first year, but to see if he freestyles, calling out Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, Dickie Durbin or the failing New York Times.
If he sticks to his message and drives undistracted he can high five himself on several economic fronts, like the soaring stock market and plummeting unemployment numbers, and in traditional presidential gusto take credit for all of it. The tax cuts have set up further economic growth, which will no doubt send House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi to her secret flask for a few mid-speech jaeger bombs. The inconvenient truth for Democrats is they have yet to craft a counter-narrative to economic success. People like money, especially when it's theirs.
This won't be a 75-minute facial disgracial for potus to poke Dems, gloating "I told ya so!" Fact is, he wants to work with them.
I suspect after the economy he'll move on to statist opium, the addictive peace pipe of unfettered infrastructure spending and they'll all be taking hits on the road to building bridges and hospitals. It's hard to resist a blank check that allows both bloated parties to go back home and promise construction goodies, but the president will be wise to put on his shrewd hardhat and talk about the *necessity* to involve the private sector as much as possible as competition both lowers costs and raises quality.
He also has to decentralize the plans as much as possible, which is hard for hardline commies like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Finally, there's the DACA live branch the president will both extend and use as a switch to bait Democrats into granting amnesty to dreamers while they approve his money for that glorious wall that will shut out any future dreams, slamming the door on prospective Democratic voters.
If the president plays his cards right, avoids any talk of the Russia investigation and sticks to a simple script of economic success, he can make his first year seem like the stuff of legend. And if the Democrats have their way his first State of the Union will also be his last, and next year President Pence will have far fewer Democratic dreams to sell.