Today, the US is far from being united. President Barack Obama has two years left in his mandate and carries a veto pen; Republicans control both the Senate and the House of Representatives and are determined to make those remaining 24 months meaningless.
It’s against this divided Washington that Obama delivered his sixth State of the Union address, usually an opportunity to rally the political system on a single path. Instead, Tuesday night’s address merely served to highlight the partisan bickering that besets the US capital.
Yes, the president called for unity but his address merely re-emphasised Democratic priorities such as tax rises for the rich and improving lagging middle class incomes, action on climate change, free college tuition, and infrastructure spending — all issues that fell flat as Republicans sat stony-faced through much of the speech.
What is significant for the Middle East is that the president asked for a clear mandate to continue military action in Syria and Iraq against Daesh (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). But asking for authority to fight isn’t going to bring a solution any closer.
The US needs to work with its allies in the region and needs to look at the root causes that allowed Daesh to spread. And it’s exactly misused authority handed to a US president to fight in Iraq that has brought us to this juncture in history.
No one in Washington seems to have learnt that lesson.
