Sharply different takes on Obama legacy as he delivers final SOTU

WASHINGTON – Even before President Obama delivered his final State of the Union address Tuesday night, local lawmakers delivered starkly different perspectives on his legacy and whether it is something for the next president to build on, or dismantle.

The views from two Pennsylvania senators – Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Pat Toomey – illustrated the political divide that has persisted throughout Obama's tenure ahead of a speech in which the president is expected to highlight some of the successes of his tenure, and point to his vision for continuing progress.

"We were in a lot worse shape in 2009 than we are now," Casey said in an interview, reflecting on the recovery from the depths of the economic collapse that preceded Obama. In the last quarter before the president took office and his first quarter in the White House, the country hemorrhaged four million jobs, he said.

Now, Casey said, Obama can point to three numbers: 14 million jobs created since the end of the recession, 17.6 million Americans who gained health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and $1 trillion cut from the annual deficit. The figures are a reminder that sometimes government action is critical, Casey said, pointing to the economic recovery act and other steps to help pull out of the recession.

"It's important to remind people that Washington has a lot of problems, but when we were in the ditch, we had to act," he said before the speech.

Toomey had a sharply different analysis.

His re-election campaign sent out a fund-raising email before the speech saying the last seven years has seen the weakest economic recovery since the Great Depression and the lowest percentage of Americans working in more than 35 years.

"There's a lot we can do this year if we can work together, but we need a new agenda, an agenda that will grow our economy, create more jobs, lift paychecks," Toomey told reporters Tuesday morning.

He called for repealing excessive regulation and fixing "a badly broken" tax code "to encourage work and savings and investment."

The president planned an optimistic speech, one intended to draw a contrast with the fury that has defined much of the 2016 presidential race.

"The future we want – opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids – all that is within our reach," Obama planned to say, according to an excerpt released by the White House. "But it will only happen if we work together.  It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates."

Republicans, hoping to take the White House and hold Congress in elections this fall, will call for change.

"Soon, the Obama presidency will end, and America will have the chance to turn in a new direction. That direction is what I want to talk about tonight," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley planned to say in the GOP response, according to an excerpt. "If we held the White House, taxes would be lower for working families, and we'd put the brakes on runaway spending and debt ... We would make international agreements that were celebrated in Israel and protested in Iran, not the other way around."

Some lawmakers hoped to make subtle statements of their own with their guests for the speech. Toomey invited Alex Douglass, the Pennsylvania state trooper wounded in an ambush that killed a fellow trooper last year. The invite, Toomey said, was a way to "acknowledge this huge sacrifice that the men and women take for our sake each and every day – we saw it vividly on display again in Philadelphia in that horrendous attack just last week."

Many Democrats invited Muslims, hoping to cast the community in a brighter light after terror attacks planned or inspired by the Islamic State, or ISIS.

Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.), invited Ahmed Shedeed, born in Egypt and now president of the Islamic Center of Jersey City. Writing on the web publishing site Medium, Booker decried "the fear and intolerance" recently seen in American politics, saying it is counter-productive to fighting extremist recruitment and improving U.S. standing in the world.

"Recent displays of religious intolerance and xenophobia are not only compromising our national security, they're blind to our history and are an affront to the values that truly define the American spirit," he wrote.

Central Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman (D., N.J.) brought Imam Hamad Ahmad Chebli, of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey, as an expression of solidarity with American Muslims, her office said.

Many Republicans have blasted Obama for declining to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism," saying he is blind to or avoiding the nature of the threat to the U.S. Obama aides say such language would only aid ISIS recruitment and further a false narrative, used by terrorists, that the West is at war with Islam.

"The president needs to recognize the growing threat of violent Islamic terrorism … it is not contained," Toomey said in his call with reporters.

But, he added, "I'm not interested in painting any category of Americans with one broad brush."

"I think people of any religious faith ought to be welcome at the State of the Union," Toomey said. "What I'm concerned about would be individuals who have been radicalized and are dangerous, and I think it's important that we understand the nature of that radicalism, the nature of that threat."

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