State of the Union Address 2011

I eagerly awaited the State of the Union Address this morning European time and I agree with Obama that the US will find an innovative way out of their fiscal dilemma. The US has a remarkable record in this respect.

I found one particularly interesting passage: "We will move forward together, or not at all - for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics". In other words, Obama is tired of politics and partisanship. I'm not sure that the feeling of alarm has reached the war-like status that would be necessary to unite the politics in the US right now though. President Obama started out his presidentship with this unifying message. Things have moved in the opposite direction after that.

However, the notion that we have passed a political stage in history and that a unified concept of global economy has taken over perhaps is a little premature. Perhaps a tough dialogue between the parties, as Obama himself is saying is the defining concept of America, is rather the way forward.

Moving forward is by the way also the concept used by the largest party in the minority government in the election last September. I'm mentioning this because of the recent interest in the Nordic economies. After having lived and worked in the US for nearly ten years, I would not think the cultures similar enough for lessons to be learned until they merged further by mutual interest. The current discussion on the health care reform clearly demonstrates that the redistribution schemes are quite far apart.

What I would like to know is if the politics envisioned by John Rawls applied on the US would give as much innovation as today?