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# State of the Union: The People’s Rebuttal
January 30 2014
Written by Karen Dolan.
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***GUEST WORDS-****(There are those who would argue that most State of the Union speeches appear political and lack much other rhyme or reason. Karen Dolan reviews the Presidents 2014 SOTU speech and provides at the least the rhyme part. Here is her most unique response the this year’s SOTU speech.)* When President Obama got populist is his State of the Union address, he didn’t get it quite right. The way we see it:
The State of our Union is strong,
He says.
Extreme Inequality is wrong,
He says.
The poor feel like they don’t belong,
He says.
We need a new Seeger song,
He says.
America needs a raise,
He says.
We’ve yet to see our best days,
He says.
We can defeat our malaise,
He says.
The tea party’s a bygone phase,
He says.
But what about CEO Pay?
We say.
And the surveillance-crazed NSA?
We say.
And where will the homeless stay?
We say.
And what will our kids eat today?
We say.
Our safety net works much too hard,
We say.
When the wealthy hold all of the cards,
We say.
The Global Economy’s much too scarred,
We say.
By the fast track you praise to the stars,
We say.
And what about stealth drone attacks?
We say.
And who gets to make up the facts?
We say.
And who has the workers’ backs?
We say.
When you lower the corporate tax?
We say.
We agree with much that you have proposed,
A bit more hopeful than we had supposed.
But to close the huge inequality gap
We need to bring up the bottom *and* pull down the top
Global fair trade, civil liberties, and rights,
Power back to the people, we won’t give up the fight.
***(Among other things, Karen Dolan is the [Institute for Policy Studies](http://www.ips-dc.org)’ deadline poet. This piece provided CityWatch by [OtherWords.org)](http://OtherWords.org)***
***-cw***
**CityWatch**
**Vol 12 Issue 9**
**Pub: Jan 31, 2014**
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