Follow-through is more important than words in State of Union speech

Instead, during his first four years in office the president has consistently taken a my-way-or-the-highway approach. Whether it's been through enactment of Obamacare or blowing up budget deals with last-minute demands for ever more spending, or going all in on green energy or ignoring entitlement reform, Obama has stiff-armed opponents in pursuit of his progressive agenda.

He delivered plenty of soaring rhetoric during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, but the message was essentially the same: a shot or two at the previous administration, a jab at the wealthy, demonization of those who don't buy the idea that climate change is to blame for every major storm, and most of all, the need to keep spending.

“Deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan,” and “We can't just cut our way to prosperity,” Obama said in zingers aimed at Republicans who would like to see at least some effort on the president's behalf to trim the deficit.

Obama said he'd be willing to make changes in Medicare and other entitlement programs. He mentioned offering savings that would be similar to those forwarded by the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction commission — the group he ignored during his first term. We were encouraged by this mention Tuesday, but it was clouded by his boilerplate point that changes can't be made “while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and most powerful.”

This was a common theme from The Great Divider. He trotted out the well-worn lines about secretaries paying higher tax rates than their wealthy bosses, ensuring government works “on behalf of the many, and not just the few,” being on guard against “billionaires with high-powered accountants.” The list went on.