State of the Union address gave a nod to the Occupy movement

TEHRAN, Feb.1 (MNA) -- In his recent State of the Union address, U.S. President Barack Obama did not specifically refer to the Occupy Wall Street movement, but the fact that he emphasized the inequality of income in the United States shows that the address was affected by the demands of the protesters on the streets. So, it seems that the main themes of the Occupy movement have found their way into the narrative of mainstream U.S. politics. In part of his speech, Obama pointed out that the tax rate paid by a billionaire businessman was less than the tax rate paid by his secretary and said this could not be justified. This precisely illustrated the unfair tax system of the United States, according to which some of the wealthiest people pay a lower tax rate than the middle class or the poor, and correcting this system is one of the main demands of the protesters in the Occupy movement. But over the past three years, Obama has failed to realize most of his campaign promises. During the speech, he also acknowledged the gravity of the country’s economic situation but did not present any concrete solutions. On the issue of U.S. foreign policy, Obama did not propose any new ideas and repeated the same rhetoric about Iran. This shows that the U.S. government has still not found a logical way to deal with the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Obama’s repetition of the old positions on Iran indicates that the U.S. foreign policy apparatus is still very confused about Iran. Over the course of the speech, Obama again reassured the Zionist regime that it will continue to enjoy U.S. support in the future. This was to be expected, since U.S. politicians always make a greater effort to display a friendly stance toward Israel ahead of elections. According to the polls, there is no guarantee that Obama will win the election, and the Republicans have many things to say about Obama’s record over the past three years. Moreover, the annual State of the Union speech offered nothing new, especially for those interested in seeing the changes Obama promised to make in the country. If Obama wants to win the election, he has only one card left to play. Obama must highlight the disasters left behind by George W. Bush and the Republicans since he has no golden record to boast about to voters.