MADELEINE BRAND, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Madeleine Brand in California.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel in Washington, where today the city is in the midst of one of its favorite parlor games: anticipating the president's State of the Union message. Among the challenges for Mr. Obama, articulating something memorable and meaningful.
The two most recent presidents left us with these phrases.
President BILL CLINTON: The era of big government is over.
(Soundbite of cheering)
President GEORGE W. BUSH: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil.
SIEGEL: So much for ghosts of States of the Union past. We now turn to the one in our immediate future. We've asked a group of Democrats to give us blueprints for what they want to hear when President Obama addresses a joint session of Congress and the nation later this evening. And we're going to begin outside of Washington with Pat Waak, who is chair of the Colorado Democratic Party. Welcome to the program.
Ms. PAT WAAK (Chair, Colorado Democratic Party): Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.
SIEGEL: What's something that President Obama could say, which if he then followed up on and did, might make a difference with Colorado voters?
Ms. WAAK: Well, I think, first, he has to remind the country and Colorado voters in particular that he inherited a $1.3 trillion debt, and we would have gone into a depression if he hadn't done what he's done so far. But I think he does need to focus on the middle class in this speech and talk about how we are going to stimulate rise in jobs and a decrease in the deficit. Those are things that people really care about deeply.
SIEGEL: It's important to you, I gather, what tone the president takes in the speech. Not just the substance of what he says, but the tone of it.
Ms. WAAK: I think he's got to be a feisty leader. You know, he's - I like the fact that he's calm and cool to some - I mean, I expect that in my leader. I certainly wouldn't want him, you know, jumping up and down and screaming. But I actually think he has to take a really firm tone.
I think one of the real follow-ups to the president's State of the Union is we in the states have got to get the truth out to people. Because what's happened is that there's this massive spin that's going on, which is not just spin. They're outright lies that are taking place. And I hope that the president gets up there and says: tell the truth, here's what the facts are, here's the direction we're going to go and you're either on board or you're not, but this ship is sailing.
Pat Waak, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, thanks so much for talking with us today.
Ms. WAAK: Thank you, Robert.
SIEGEL: Labor has been one of President Obama's most important allies. Steve Rosenthal used to be political director of the AFL-CIO. He's now a political consultant to Democrats in Washington.
Welcome to the program.
Mr. STEVE ROSENTHAL (Former Political Director, AFL-CIO): Thank you.
SIEGEL: What most do you want to hear from the president in the State of the Union?
Mr. ROSENTHAL: I think it's really critical that the president put down a marker around jobs. There's no question that that's what Americans are crying for. We're looking at a situation right now where somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed. This is a crisis.
They've seen Congress and the White House spring into action to help AIG, spring into action to help Lehman Brothers, and they're wondering when they're going to spring into action to help, you know, typical Americans.
SIEGEL: Well, they sprung into action with the stimulus and no one expects the administration to approve another big stimulus or to get one through the Congress. What can they do to bring down unemployment?
Mr. ROSENTHAL: They can't afford to tinker. And they really need to go big to do something big. They need to be doing things that create jobs immediately. You know, you look at our roads, our bridges, our light rail systems, there's a lot that can be done immediately to start to create jobs fast. But if they tinker and do something small, it's really not going to help. And believe it or not, I think there is a taste on voters' part to see these guys do something very, very big.
SIEGEL: If you heard this evening any echo of the sentiment that the era of big government is over, you would say, wrong, that's the wrong track (unintelligible).
Mr. ROSENTHAL: It's exactly the wrong direction to go in, because if they do small things, it's not going to have much impact. The Democrats have to be seen as champions of jobs. It's the right thing for America right now and it's the right thing for the party.
SIEGEL: Steve Rosenthal, political consultant, former political director of the AFL-CIO, thank you very much for talking with us.
Mr. ROSENTHAL: Thank you.
SIEGEL: Now to someone who's actually been closely involved in preparing State of the Union speeches. Mike McCurry is former press secretary to President Clinton, now a lobbyist here in Washington. Welcome to the program.
Mr. MICHAEL MCCURRY (Former Press Secretary to President Bill Clinton): Nice to be with you.
SIEGEL: What do you want to hear in the State of the Union?
Mr. MCCURRY: Well, something inspirational, hopeful, optimistic. Something that takes us back to that amazing day on the Mall just over a year ago, where Barack Obama really, I think, brought the country together and said, we're going to do things in a different way. We need to get back some of that sense of idealism, because we've lost that. It's been a very angry, bitter, sulfurous climate here in Washington.
SIEGEL: Do you want to hear somebody who's angry at the people to make them angry and feisty?
Mr. MCCURRY: No, I don't. I don't want to hear kind of faux populism. I want that sense that we can solve these problems and rise above some of our divisions. I also want to hear the president figuratively talk to that aisle that he walks down. He doesn't need to talk to the fringes. He needs to talk to Americans.
We're mostly out there in the middle and looking for solutions, and looking to make some progress on these issues that we've been dealing with for a long time.
SIEGEL: What do you think is the wisest thing he could say about health care at this stage of the debate?
Mr. MCCURRY: That it's a mess, the debate, that we've got some good ideas and we know some things that we need to do. And that we can come together and get those done. I think if he figuratively offers the Republicans a chance to work together in a bipartisan way, he's going to have to do something, maybe tort reform or something that demonstrates that serious.
I doubt that's going to happen just because I think this debate has been so polarized now. So I think it will mostly be - let's do what we can, let's move on, let's get to the real subject, which is: How do we create jobs and strengthen this economy?
SIEGEL: At the top of this segment, we heard President Clinton's words about the era of big government being over. That was after the Republican victory of 1994, huge setback.
Mr. MCCURRY: And apparently, a little premature.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIEGEL: A little bit premature. Is it a moment for President Obama to signal some similar acknowledgement of big change because the Democrats lost the Senate seat in Massachusetts?
Mr. MCCURRY: I think it's a moment of some contrition and a moment for some humility. We didn't get done all of the changes that we had promised the American people. But there are things that the tool of government can do effectively and we have to use that tool wisely. I think that's the direction he'll go.
SIEGEL: Mike McCurry, thanks for talking with us.
Mr. MCCURRY: Great.
SIEGEL: Mike McCurry, former press secretary to President Bill Clinton, now a Washington lobbyist.