‘The myth about Obama is that he is a liberal’

Half the customers were setting rules for a drinking game based on US president Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech; the other half chose to ignore it, watching a college basketball game instead on other televisions in the bar.

"Every time there's a standing ovation or Obama says 'inequality', 'immigration' or the 'middle class' you drink," said one punter as the bartender at the Red Carpet Lounge turned on CNN for customers to watch Obama's fifth State of the Union address, the highest- profile speech in the presidential calendar.

"Mr Speaker, Mr Vice-President, members of Congress, " Obama said, starting his 65-minute address.

“I hate you all,” heckled a young man wearing a baseball cap who later said he was a Republican voter.

A short walk from West Virginia’s state capitol building in Charleston, this small but colourful bar was populated by an eclectic mix of politicos, hipsters, sports fans and blue-collar barflies. “You could have half the state legislature in here one night and drag queens the next,” one drinker explained.

The freezing temperatures meant the passing trade was slow. Charleston is still reeling from a massive coal-processing chemical spill earlier this month that affected the drinking water of 300,000 people.

'Year of action'
This year Obama has swapped the aspirational for the achievable, declaring 2014 to be "a year of action". Plagued by record-low approval ratings and a divided Congress that is one of the least productive in history, he warned a hostile Republican opposition with control of the House of Representatives and blocking power in the Senate that he would act unilaterally if they did not support his plans.

He said he would seek the support of Congress for policies to tackle economic inequality and the widening gulf between the rich and everyone else, or act without legislators wherever possible.

The policies represent a pragmatic Obama in contrast to the hopeful Obama that was swept to power in 2008. He has a short time to reboot his presidency and salvage his legacy as a progressive reformer before the campaigns for the November midterm elections and the presidential race scare politicians away from major policy decisions that might jeopardise their electoral prospects.

“What I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class,” he said.

“Some require congressional action, and I’m eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still, and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Goals
Among the goals mapped out by Obama were an increase in the hourly minimum wage to $10.10 (€7.37), free early childhood education, and a renewed call for comprehensive immigration reform that is getting a warmer reception among Republicans eager to win back minority voters to build national support.

The plight of the working poor championed by Obama throughout his speech is palpable in West Virginia, a state that ranked the second poorest in 2011 on average household income. Almost one in five people live in poverty, or below an annual income of $23,550 (€17,191) for a family of four. Almost half of all children live in low-income families in a state dominated by the chemical or coal industries.

Social ladder
Obama's pledge to restore the promise that if you work hard you can move up the social ladder – "the defining project of our generation" – even resonated with some critics in West Virginia.

“He is trying to give lower- class people healthcare, so how evil is this guy? I got to respect him for that,” said Adam, a Republican, who still regarded Obama’s wider presidential record as “bumbled”.

Another customer, who wished to be identified only as a Democrat, believed that Obama struck the right tone, setting out the right policies to pursue and pulling punches where he had to.

“He addressed the fact that Congress has done nothing and was focused on the things that are possible. It is the last time he is going to be able to set a meaningful policy agenda,” he said.

The views in the bar captured the purple political hue of West Virginia, a traditionally Democratic “blue” state that has been turning Republican “red”. Obama failed to win the state in 2008 and again in 2012.

The recent chemical spill was a "game-changer", said Democrat Stephen Skinner – it could turn more voters Democrat, making a difference in the election of one of West Virginia's two senators and in the national race for control of the Senate in the November elections.

“The myth about Obama is that he is a liberal,” said Skinner, the first openly gay candidate elected to the West Virginia house of delegates.

“He is at heart a pragmatist. He is always looking for solutions. Republicans box him up as a liberal and that is how they raise money, but you cannot run a country in opposition to a president.”