Wednesday 29 January 2014

Play the Super Bowl indoors






People attend Super Bowl XLVIII media day at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday, January 28. The Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos will face off on February 2.People attend Super Bowl XLVIII media day at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday, January 28. The Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos will face off on February 2.

A Blackhawk helicopter patrols near MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on January 28. Customs and Border Protection agents are helping to secure the area for the Super Bowl.A Blackhawk helicopter patrols near MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on January 28. Customs and Border Protection agents are helping to secure the area for the Super Bowl.

A worker moves a barrier protecting an ice sculpture modeled after the Lombardi Trophy in New York's Times Square on January 28. Times Square has been transformed into Super Bowl Boulevard ahead of the game.A worker moves a barrier protecting an ice sculpture modeled after the Lombardi Trophy in New York's Times Square on January 28. Times Square has been transformed into Super Bowl Boulevard ahead of the game.

Street signs point to Super Bowl attractions in Times Square. Several blocks of Manhattan have been converted into a temporary festival space.Street signs point to Super Bowl attractions in Times Square. Several blocks of Manhattan have been converted into a temporary festival space.

A security guard is bundled up while watching over Super Bowl Boulevard on January 28.A security guard is bundled up while watching over Super Bowl Boulevard on January 28.

Workers put together a stage structure for Super Bowl activities in Times Square on Monday, January 27.Workers put together a stage structure for Super Bowl activities in Times Square on Monday, January 27.

A man adjusts lights at the Super Bowl media center in New York on January 27.A man adjusts lights at the Super Bowl media center in New York on January 27.

A tractor plows snow at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Wednesday, January 22.A tractor plows snow at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Wednesday, January 22.

A crew member works to remove snow from the field. Super Bowl XLVIII will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows.A crew member works to remove snow from the field. Super Bowl XLVIII will be the first NFL title game held outdoors in a city where it snows.

Workers remove snow from the stands. Cold weather welcome kits have been produced for fans. They will include earmuffs, hats, mittens and lip balm, among other items.Workers remove snow from the stands. Cold weather welcome kits have been produced for fans. They will include earmuffs, hats, mittens and lip balm, among other items.

The NFL and local authorities are preparing for a possible snowstorm the day of the game.The NFL and local authorities are preparing for a possible snowstorm the day of the game.

Donna Connelly threads the laces of an official game ball for the Super Bowl at Wilson Sporting Goods in Ada, Ohio, on January 20.Donna Connelly threads the laces of an official game ball for the Super Bowl at Wilson Sporting Goods in Ada, Ohio, on January 20.

Official game balls are on display at Wilson Sporting Goods in Ada.Official game balls are on display at Wilson Sporting Goods in Ada.

New Jersey Transit Police stand watch over a news briefing on December 9 concerning transportation to the Super Bowl at a station in Secaucus, New Jersey.New Jersey Transit Police stand watch over a news briefing on December 9 concerning transportation to the Super Bowl at a station in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Organizers are calling this year's title game the first public transportation Super Bowl, and New Jersey Transit is offering a special pass to ease travel woes.Organizers are calling this year's title game the first public transportation Super Bowl, and New Jersey Transit is offering a special pass to ease travel woes.








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  • Mike Downey: Football gets to choose where its championship game is played

  • Why risk playing in New Jersey where rain, snow or cold could interfere?

  • Downey: Hold Super Bowls in stadiums with domes or retractable roofs

  • He says New York area fans should watch the Super Bowl -- on TV




Editor's note: Mike Downey is a former columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.


(CNN) -- Super Bowls ought to be held indoors -- and that means all of them.


Not football itself. The game of football should be played in any kind of conditions, anytime, anyplace -- day, night, indoors, outdoors, weekends, weeknights, whatever. It's all good.


UNTIL the Super Bowl. Not that. Never that.


To ensure pristine conditions for the most popular yearly event in all of American sport, the National Football League needs to book each of its Super Bowl contests in a stadium covered by (A) a permanent dome or (B) a retractable roof. No place else.



Mike Downey


Super Bowl XLVIII is scheduled to be played this coming Sunday in an outdoor arena in northern New Jersey. It could snow. It could hail.


A game featuring some of the NFL's greatest stars could result in hundreds of millions of TV viewers watching these poor dudes slip, slide and shiver their XL-sized butts off.


The defending NFL champion Baltimore Ravens' quarterback, Joe Flacco, put it bluntly in 2013 when asked about holding 2014's Super Bowl outdoors in February in the New York/New Jersey region: "I think it's stupid. If you want a Super Bowl, put a retractable dome on your stadium. Then you can get one."




Fans sit in the rain as they watch Super Bowl XLI between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts on February 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Fans sit in the rain as they watch Super Bowl XLI between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts on February 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.



Flacco took flak for that. He also had to issue an apology for describing an outdoor Super Bowl on the East Coast as "retarded," but the opinion he was tossing out was right on the money.


What a shame to risk ruining the biggest game of the year.


No other major U.S. sport -- not baseball, basketball or hockey -- holds its championship fight at a neutral site. Those sports are forced take whatever comes -- if it's rainy in St. Louis or frigid in Detroit or wherever, hey, tough luck. That's the way the World Series ball bounces.





Super Bowl host city: Show us some love!




Betting on the Superbowl

Football, however, has the ability to work around this.


It chooses its site. It isn't like basketball or hockey, where the team with the best record gets the home-stadium advantage. The NFL selects its Super Bowl sites several years in advance.


Well, it selected New York/New Jersey for this one and good luck with that, guys. When this game is over, instead of Gatorade, douse the winning coach with a cooler of hot chicken soup.


Peculiar how it's Peyton Manning who must quarterback his team (the Denver Broncos) in what could be some truly unpleasant Super Bowl weather.


February 4, 2007: For the first time, Manning took his team (then the Indianapolis Colts) to a Super Bowl game, where everyone would get to see what a skillful, pinpoint passer he was. Oh, and the opponents, the Chicago Bears, had a high-flying offense of their own, scoring the second-most points of any NFL team that season. What a game this would be! There in tropical Miami -- where it rained and rained and rained.


The game was a joke. It had eight turnovers. The wet ball squirted out of players' hands. Guys slipped as if on banana peels. A great kicker missed an easy field goal. A holder fumbled the snap on an extra point. During one slapstick sequence, a Bear fumbled the kickoff, then a Colt fumbled on the next play.


Miami has been host to many a Super Bowl. It is generally warm there in January and a good time is had by all. But that Super Bowl of 2007 wasn't a game -- it was a monsoon. It put its players, coaches, referees and, worst of all, its paying spectators through four hours of misery and mess. At halftime, even the singer Prince had to sing "Purple Rain" in the rain.


With a $1,200 face value on a ticket now, is this what the NFL wants its fans to endure in years to come? The possibility of going to a championship game and coming home with the flu? Or the possibility of a final score of Seattle 3, Denver 0 in a blizzard?


Super Bowl L -- that's 50, for all you Roman numeral haters -- is booked for 2016 for a field that isn't even operational yet: Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the future home of the San Francisco 49ers.


It will undoubtedly be a beautiful place. But it won't have a roof.


California is having a drought, and it's not exactly an Amazon rain forest up there. But if that Super Bowl L game ends up being played in a torrential downpour, don't say we didn't warn you.


At this time, NFL teams that have a stadium with a roof are the Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints and St. Louis Rams (domed) and the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts (retractable).


Arizona will host the 2015 game, Houston the one in 2017. Beyond that, we shall see.


A lot of serious thought should be given to making sure that every Super Bowl is played in optimal conditions, so that the players themselves decide the outcome, not the cold, rain or snow.


South Florida and Northern California and other nice places want the game -- of course they do. Who wouldn't? But they cannot make a promise on Mother Nature's behalf. They can merely cross their fingers and hope.


As for the New York and New Jersey area being host to a game like this in February, wow, whose stupid idea was THIS?


New York and New Jersey have some of the smartest, most loyal football fans in the world. Let them watch Jets and Giants games in their stadium week after week in all kinds of weather and all kinds of clothes.


Then tell them to please be sure to watch the Super Bowl every year -- on TV.


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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mike Downey.



Can Obama deliver on year of action?






President Barack Obama delivers the State of Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber on Tuesday, January 28, 2014, in Washington, as Vice President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listen.President Barack Obama delivers the State of Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber on Tuesday, January 28, 2014, in Washington, as Vice President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listen.

The underlying theme of Obama's fifth State of the Union address was his call for the government to work on behalf of all Americans in 2014, and his pledge to do so even if Congress refused to join him in an election year.The underlying theme of Obama's fifth State of the Union address was his call for the government to work on behalf of all Americans in 2014, and his pledge to do so even if Congress refused to join him in an election year.

Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Speaker of the House John Boehner before the speech.Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Speaker of the House John Boehner before the speech.

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court (from left): Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan prior to the president's speech.Members of the U.S. Supreme Court (from left): Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan prior to the president's speech.

From left, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida; U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York; and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, wait for Obama's speech.From left, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida; U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York; and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, wait for Obama's speech.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius arrives for the address. Obama called on Republicans to stop trying to undermine his 2010 health care reform law passed with no GOP support, saying, "The American people aren't interested in refighting old battles."Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius arrives for the address. Obama called on Republicans to stop trying to undermine his 2010 health care reform law passed with no GOP support, saying, "The American people aren't interested in refighting old battles."

Obama said during his speech, "What I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Some require congressional action, and I'm eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still, and neither will I." Obama said during his speech, "What I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Some require congressional action, and I'm eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still, and neither will I."

Republican senators and representatives listen to President Barack Obama's speech during the State of the Union.Republican senators and representatives listen to President Barack Obama's speech during the State of the Union.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, center, and Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, cheer during Obama's speech.Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, center, and Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, cheer during Obama's speech.

US Army Ranger Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg, injured while serving in Afghanistan, acknowledges the crowd during a standing ovation for him as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union speech.US Army Ranger Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg, injured while serving in Afghanistan, acknowledges the crowd during a standing ovation for him as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union speech.

"Let's make this a year of action," Obama said. "That's what most Americans want -- for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations.""Let's make this a year of action," Obama said. "That's what most Americans want -- for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations."

President Obama calls on Congress to "join the rest of the country. Say yes. Give America a raise" in minimum wage. President Obama calls on Congress to "join the rest of the country. Say yes. Give America a raise" in minimum wage.








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  • Commentators weighed in on Obama's State of the Union address

  • Julian Zelizer says Obama tried to move conversation toward inequality

  • Kevin Appleby: Bipartisan immigration reform possible this time

  • Maria Cardona: GOP could learn from Obama's approach on women's issues




(CNN) -- CNN asked for views on President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, in which he called for "a year of action"-- with or without Congress's agreement -- on combating inequality, creating pathways into employment, immigration reform and more.


Julian Zelizer: Obama's message to the middle class


President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address offered both a threat and a promise: To use the federal government's power to tackle the economic challenges the middle class has faced in recent decades. His theme was opportunity, namely, using government to ensure that all Americans have a genuine chance to climb the ladder "of opportunity" to make it into the middle class and become self-sufficient.



Julian Zelizer


Relying on the government to ensure that those doors stay open is a traditional theme for Democrats, one they've employed effectively since President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s.


While the speech did have more proposals than some expected (tax reform, investing in infrastructure and research, job training, education, equal pay, minimum wage and more), the address was generally vague. But offering a laundry list was not the President's main intention. Nor was his primary goal to boost his approval ratings.


What the President really hoped to do with this speech was to direct the national conversation for the coming year. He wants to move Washington further away from its political obsession with austerity -- cutting spending and cutting deficits -- and toward a debate about how the federal government, through the President if necessary, can take concrete steps to alleviate the problems of inequality and provide renewed security to the middle class.


President Obama asked Republicans in Congress to join him in entering this discussion and dealing with this problem through concrete policy, while he also sent a clear warning that he will move ahead without them if they resist. "But America does not stand still," the President said, "and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."


Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and "Governing America."


LZ Granderson: A missed opportunity on inequality


Considering how much stock Democrats have put into the debate over income inequality recently, President Obama's State of the Union speech didn't spend much time driving the party's point home with specifics or facts.



LZ Granderson


Instead he over-relied on anecdotes. Yes, he correctly pointed out the three decades of technological growth had slowly eaten away at middle-class jobs. But by focusing the nation's attention more on the band-aid minimum wage increase -- and making only cursory mention of more permanent solutions, such as the specific loopholes he would close and tax code revisions he would make -- Obama missed an opportunity. And that was to convince Americans that his economic policies are not the reason median income has dropped since he took office and that he's still capable of big policy initiatives, the kind that could find a little bipartisan support from tax hawks on the moderate right who also want to re-write the tax code.


That's not to suggest an executive order to raise the minimum wage won't help people; it will. But to change the dynamic that has kept wages stagnant since President Reagan, it's going to take something big. And for all of the big talk about income inequality from Democrats, President Obama's address presented very little in terms of specific ideas, backed by facts, that would change the trajectory.


Instead, by glossing over the country's economic arc -- and not educating people on the decades-long regression of the middle class because of the tax code -- he made it easier for his critics to simply point a finger and say "it's his fault."


LZ Granderson writes a weekly column for CNN.com. A senior writer for ESPN and lecturer at Northwestern University, the former Hechinger Institute fellow has had his commentary recognized by the Online News Association, the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. Follow him on Twitter @locs_n_laughs.


Anne-Marie Slaughter: Where was foreign policy?


The biggest surprise of Obama's speech last night was his return to a campaign pledge from his first Presidential run: To close the Guantánamo Bay prison where the U.S. government is holding detainees accused of terrorism without formal charge or trial date, violating one of the most fundamental safeguards of our Constitution.



Anne-Marie Slaughter


That is the only comfort that human rights supporters and humanitarians got from tonight's State of the Union address. On Syria, the greatest moral challenge of our time and a pressing strategic issue, the President said nothing except to make a quick reference to the removal of Syrian chemical weapons due to U.S. "diplomacy backed by force."


That kind of diplomacy is exactly what is lacking in Syria; the participants in the ongoing conference in Switzerland have no reason to think that if they cannot agree to a peace agreement the United States will respond with anything more than exhortations. Indeed, elsewhere in the speech the President echoed his remarks last May when he insisted that "America must move off a permanent war footing," adopting restrictions on the use if drones. He also anticipated the day when the Afghan war, the longest war in American history, would be over.


Looking at the speech as a whole, the real core of the President's foreign-policy is not political but economic: His point early on that America is now the No. 1 place to invest in the world, beating out China. Notwithstanding Secretary of State John Kerry's strenuous efforts on three different fronts -- Iran, Syria, and Israel/Palestine -- his boss used this speech to toss breadcrumbs to various foreign-policy constituencies. It's the economy stupid, never more than now.


Anne-Marie Slaughter is president and CEO of the New America Foundation . She was director of policy planning in the U.S. State Department from 2009 to 2011.


Kevin Appleby: An immigration reform goal he may be able to reach


A highlight of President Obama's State of the Union address was his call for bipartisan cooperation in passing immigration reform this year: "Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted. I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same. So let's get immigration reform done this year."


Unlike other years, this year's call to action actually has a ring of political reality, as the House Republicans are preparing to release their own principles for reform.


But getting a fair immigration bill through the House of Representatives in an election year will be tough, requiring more political leadership and less political gamesmanship. It is achievable, provided all sides enter the fray in good faith and with a sincere desire to tackle the problem. As the President said in his speech, "...it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders and law enforcement and fix our broken immigration system."


Both sides will have to compromise and, believe it or not, work together to pass positive and humane legislation. There will be real differences on the substantive issues, particularly in how the undocumented population will be allowed to apply for citizenship and what future enforcement policies may be adopted. But they are not irreconcilable.


The human stakes are high. If the President and Congress fail to repair our immigration system, immigrant families and communities -- and the social fabric of the nation -- will continue to break apart.


As Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles has aptly stated, our current immigration system is a "stain on the soul of the nation. " As a moral matter, we can no longer wait to fix it.


Kevin Appleby is director of Migration Policy and Public Affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.


Timothy Stanley: Obama plans to ignore Congress -- and they'll ignore him back


The latest State of the Union address reflected the Washington partisanship we've all come to know and hate. Obama began the speech by asking for unity, but quickly made it clear that he a) didn't expect to get it and b) is prepared to break the deadlock with executive action. Take the minimum wage. Obama made a moral case for it being raised, implied that he expects the Republicans to refuse support, and then indicated that he'd find ways of doing it anyway.



Timothy Stanley


Last year he was prepared to fight the Republicans in Congress. This year he'll ignore them and, presumably, travel the country calling them heartless instead. So the battle will take on a new, slightly less Constitutionally-sound dimension. No less bitter, of course.


Where he has asked for cooperation, it's doubtful he'll get it. Solar panels and amnesty for illegal immigrants are not things that John Boehner can easily deliver votes on. Meanwhile, Republicans will probably avoid engaging rhetorically with Obama's economic populism and continue to talk about Obamacare and the deficit instead, setting themselves up to reap a protest vote in the November midterms.


So what we heard last night was an admirably feisty attempt to regain the political initiative by establishing the Republicans as the party of stasis and the President as a man who just wants to get things done. The problem, though, is that the political realities continue to block movement.


Last year we saw a shutdown, light gun control initiatives defeated and even a war averted by just the terror of taking it to Congress. Why should this change? The Republicans won't gain anything from being nicer to the President and the President is staking everything on the country turning against the Republicans. Sorry, but 2014 looks like it'll be a repeat of 2013.


Timothy Stanley is a historian at Oxford University and blogs for Britain's The Daily Telegraph. He is the author of "The Crusader: The Life and Times of Pat Buchanan."


Nick Ehrmann: Early education important, but don't forget high school


Last night, President Obama made an impassioned and necessary case to lower the barriers for low-income students to succeed in higher education. He said: "The problem is we're still not reaching enough kids, and we're not reaching them in time." He's right. That has to change.



Nick Ehrmann


The President points out that "one of the best investments we can make in a child's life is high-quality early education." His focus on mustering resources from both the public and private sectors, of creating "a coalition of elected officials, business leaders, and philanthropists" to increase access to quality early education is smart.


Let's not forget that the same is true of students further along in their education. Research has shown that academic preparation in high school is the single strongest predictor of college completion.


Take 18-year-old Estiven Rodriguez, the Dominican-born student whom the President hailed in his speech for extraordinary academic achievements, including a scholarship to Dickinson College for the fall. After arriving to the U.S. speaking limited English, Estiven's path to opportunity accelerated with exposure to rigorous academic preparation later on in his journey through the New York City public schools.


Making the President's vision a reality requires collaboration from both the public and private sectors, from the best minds in education, from parents, teachers, policymakers, and nonprofits alike. This is about Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School -- or WHEELS, an urban public high school -- partnering with nonprofits to create a learning environment that helps students like Estiven thrive.


We have the rest of 2014 to see whether the President's intention to work outside of Congress to expand educational opportunity will prove effective.


Nick Ehrmann is the CEO and founder of Blue Engine, a New York City-based education nonprofit that partners with public high schools to prepare students for college success.


Maria Cardona: GOP should follow Obama's lead on women's issues


In his State of the Union speech, President Obama offered a blueprint for moving the country forward with optimism, economic opportunity and pathways to prosperity for all. But thanks to obstruction in Washington, too little has been done to make these a reality for all Americans, especially women. Here is where Republicans should pay attention.



Maria Cardona


The President laid out a very clear prescription for Republicans to start fixing their political problems with women. In addition to ending the talk about libidos and our reproductive systems, the GOP would do well to acknowledging that women deserve equal pay for equal work. The President urged Congress and businesses to realize that we need to do away with employment policies that belong in the 1950s and reject the notion that it is OK that the median earnings of full-time female workers are 77% of the median earnings of full-time male workers.


Republicans can also follow the President's lead on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for future federal contract workers as a way to climb out of their self-dug hole with women. Women hold a majority of low-wage jobs in America. Raising the minimum wage and closing the gender wage gap will help the 1 out of 3 women who live in or on the brink of poverty, could cut poverty in half and add half a trillion dollars to the economy.


Add to that abandoning the GOPs obsession with repealing Obamacare -- an initiative that has given countless mothers the security of knowing that their children with pre-existing conditions will be covered by a health plan -- and you could have the beginning of the end of the Republicans' problems with women. Maybe.


Maria Cardona is a Democratic strategist, a principal at the Dewey Square Group , a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and former communications director for the Democratic National Committee.


John Stoehr: He can't address inequality without spending


President Obama's fifth State of the Union address was haunted by the specter of austerity. Very few of the measures he asked Congress to act on -- education, tax and immigration reform, closing Guantanamo or passing fair-pay legislation -- would require the federal government to spend.





That's what was missing.


According to Lawrence Summers, President Obama's former top economic adviser, if Congress does not authorize more spending, we may be "doomed to oscillation between inadequate and slow growth and bubbly, unsustainable and problem-creating growth." He added: the depressed state of the economy calls for "direct fiscal policy action."


The closest Obama got to discussing spending was after urging Congress to close tax loopholes that reward corporations for sending jobs overseas while creating disincentives to creating jobs at home. We can take the money saved from tax reform, he said, and spend it "rebuilding our roads, upgrading our ports, unclogging our commutes." But if Congress fails to act, he said he would use the powers of the executive to fast-track "key projects" to "get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible."


That's fine, but there's only so much Obama can do without Congress. He can cut red tape all day but that's not going to put more money in more Americans' pockets, boosting their purchasing power. His call to raise the minimum wage will indeed increase demand, and alleviate poor sales, but even a $10.10 minimum wage doesn't keep pace with productivity gains over the past decade. This economy is not able to create enough quality jobs on its own. In the absence of benevolent market forces, the government must spend.


John Stoehr is managing editor of the Washington Spectator.


Aaron Carroll: No victory lap on Obamacare


Given that this is the year when the Affordable Care Act really gets into gear, it's not surprising that the President took the opportunity to highlight some of the important things that are happening right now due to health care reform. He highlighted the case of a woman in Arizona who was previously uninsured, but who was able to get health insurance on January 1 thanks to new regulations and the insurance exchanges. Millions of people stand to gain insurance this year, and the administration is eager to highlight this achievement.



Aaron Carroll


But the President also seemed to acknowledge reality in the sense that people are not signing up for insurance at the rate that he had hoped for. He exhorted people to get family members to sign up for care. He used Kentucky as an example of success, but even that state isn't where many hoped it would be.


He urged Republicans to change their tactics on the law. Instead of "refighting old battles," he asked them to offer new ideas and allow them to be compared to his law in terms of costs and coverage.


This certainly didn't feel like a victory lap. President Obama continues to face opposition and calls for the law to be repealed. That's almost certainly not going to happen, but it has to be frustrating to the President that he still has to appeal to the American people for support on a law that was passed almost four years ago.


Aaron E. Carroll is a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the director of its Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research. He has supported a single-payer health system during the reform debate. He blogs about health policy at The Incidental Economist and tweets at @aaronecarroll.


Bob Greene: The state of the union? Discord and inaction


Three bangs of the gavel, "Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States," "High privilege and distinct honor," and the annual grandeur-on-demand unfolded right on schedule Tuesday night.



Bob Greene


The State of the Union address was not short on human moments. President Obama, in the first minute of his speech, evoked teachers, entrepreneurs, auto workers, farmers and rural doctors to argue that America's finest moments are crafted not in Washington, but out in the nation.


He pointed out that "the son of a barkeep" -- John Boehner -- was Speaker of the House, and that the son of a single mother -- Obama himself -- was president.


But when Obama declared that "this chamber" -- the well of the House of Representatives, on this evening filled with members of Congress, members of the Cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- "speaks with one voice," his words, no matter how well intentioned, rang necessarily a little hollow.


The leadership of this nation? Speaking with one voice?


If ever in the country's history it was true -- and it probably never was -- it certainly isn't today. The President was making the case that the upper echelon of American politics and government concurs that "the state of our Union" is strong.


That sentiment is far from unanimous, and before long you will find ample evidence in the wall-to-wall attack ads that, as always, will be an inescapable feature of Congressional campaigns across the country. The State of the Union address long ago ceded its place as the main barometer of how political and governmental America feels about itself; the attack ads paint a truer cumulative portrait.


The president vowed "a year of action," and he will be correct, although perhaps not in the way he intended. The action is up the road, in the bare-knuckles election campaigns that lie ahead. The state of the union -- at least the political union -- is combative and discordant. Which is probably healthy, although sometimes not easy to watch. As messy as America's civic life can be, in the end it is hard to dispute that it is indeed a high privilege and distinct honor to live here, to be a part of it all.


CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose 25 books include "Late Edition: A Love Story;" "Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War;" and "Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen."


Edward Morrissey: Papering over poor track record on jobs


It's always difficult for a President starting a sixth year in office to frame a State of the Union speech for a forward-looking agenda, even when the basic economic environment is good. When that President has governed through a dysfunctional recovery and watched the workforce dwindle down as a share of the working-age population, it's nearly impossible. President Obama's speech, needless to say, did not accomplish the impossible.



Edward Morrissey


He started out the speech bragging about adding eight million jobs in four years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that figure is 7.5 million since December 2009, although it's closer to 6.5 million in the Household survey. Even at the higher number, job growth works out to an average of 156,250 net jobs added each month.


Thanks to population growth, the U.S. economy needs to add about 150,000 jobs each month just to stay even in terms of workforce employment. What President Obama fails to mention is that his economic policies have dragged employment and active engagement in the workforce as a percentage of the civilian population down from 64.6% at the beginning of that four-year period to 62.8% now, a level not seen since Jimmy Carter gave his first official State of the Union speech in 1978.


Clearly, then, Obama's policies have not brought prosperity and job creation to the nation. At best, we have had four years of stagnation on job creation, and the falling top-line unemployment number reflects an exodus from the workforce, not any improvement in the job market. Why is that? Obama slipped into the passive voice to explain it: "But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled." Obama seems to think that he's just arrived on the scene, but it has been his economic and regulatory policies for the past five years that produced this stalled economy and stagnation environment.


And what did Obama propose to solve this? The same policies that produced it -- spending on supposedly shovel-ready public works, short-term gimmicky incentives and government programs, most of which have nothing to do with freeing capital to unlock job creation.


No one expected Obama to offer anything innovative or new, so it's hardly a disappointment. But like his last few State of the Union speeches, it was largely a laundry list of priorities far out of touch with Americans who just want to get back to work.


Anthony Leiserowitz: A renewed promise of action on climate change


President Obama's 5th State of the Union address called for reigniting the American dream -- one that feels increasingly out of reach for far too many Americans.



Anthony Leiserowitz


He vowed to take assertive presidential action this year -- with Congress where possible, but without Congress when it refuses to act. This includes perhaps his most important legacy -- making serious and substantial progress to reduce the threat of global warming and prepare the nation for the impacts already beginning to hit home. Future generations will look back on this President and on this time as a critical moment in the history of the world: did we choose to address this real and present danger or did we choose to ignore or deny the problem until it festered beyond repair?


The President listed his accomplishments so far -- stronger pollution standards for cars, rules to limit pollution from power plants, investments in the transition to clean energy. He also described new partnerships with states and local communities to begin preparing to protect the nation from extreme weather and other climate impacts.


These are important first steps. There is much still to be done -- by individuals, communities, states, the nation and the world. And there are still political divisions within America about the reality and seriousness of the threat. (He was in fact blunt: "...the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact," he said.)


But as the President reminded us, progress never comes easy. "Sometimes we stumble; we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged. But for more than 200 years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress."


Anthony Leiserowitz is director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.


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The opinions in this commentary are solely those of the writers.