Economics
Obama Speech Nods to Populism Gone Mainstream
The president reaches into his party’s progressive past.
US President Barack Obama appears on a television monitor at the US Capitol as he delivers the State of the Union address in Washington, DC, January 20, 2015.
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President Barack Obama reached into his party’s progressive past to deliver a robust endorsement of higher taxes for the wealthy, government intervention in the economy and an array of new benefits for lower- and middle-income Americans.
“Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?” Obama said in a State of the Union address Tuesday night that at times sounded more like a party-rallying convention speech.