Wisconsin Activists, Members Of Congress Offer Differing Perspectives On State Of The Union

Reactions to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night were, perhaps unsurprisingly, mixed.

Some of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party activists said the speech has left this year’s Democratic nominee for the White House electable in November.

About 50 people gathered at a Milwaukee labor hall to watch the president make his final State of the Union address. They cheered many of his remarks about his accomplishments and his call for cooperation.

Tracy Sperko said the speech tees things up for the election.

“I think he’s laid the groundwork for the middle class and the poor and also that we should be helping, instead of hating,” said Sperko.

Solomon Johnson said even if the president did rankle some of the powerful, that’s OK.

“I’m one of the people who believe that the person who doesn’t have anything needs to be helped,” he said.

But some Republican members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation were less than impressed, especially when it came to what the president had to say about national security.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Obama didn’t outline a plan to defeat militants in the Middle East.

Ron Johnson chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He said he’s “highly concerned” about what he calls “radical Islamic terror,” as witnessed in Paris and San Bernardino.

The senator said he wonders about Obama’s grasp on the issues.

“I’ve been saying for months that I completely support president Obama’s stated goals as relates to ISIS for example, which is to degrade and ultimately defeat. But he established that goal 15 (or) 16 months ago and there is no clear strategy for destroying ISIS,” he said, referring to the group also known as the Islamic State.

On other issues, Ron Johnson said the speech came off as “preachy.”

“I mean you just felt, sitting in the chair, that the president was just preaching at us. I was kind of puzzled by it quite honestly. I didn’t see much of a theme there,” he said. “A lot of soaring rhetoric not attached, necessarily, to the reality of what’s actually happened to the world under his watch.”

But he said he was glad to hear the president speak of the need for regulatory reforms for businesses, which he said could be a point of bipartisan agreement in Congress.

U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., was similarly critical overall, saying the president offered empty words, while the GOP is putting together a focused agenda to empower citizens.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional reporting including statements from Sen. Ron Johnson.