President Obama gave his final State of the Union address tonight, focusing on his accomplishments over the past seven years while trying to set a path forward on areas like education costs, cancer and climate change. As with all political speeches, it’s mostly a collection of forgettable rhetoric. History shows lame-duck presidents light on actual policy proposals don’t generally get laws passed.
But some words in this speech were striking, not so much because they will lead to policy, but rather because they underscore exactly why the business community — from the large corporations the president has made a habit of demonizing over the years to the entrepreneurial startups he always makes an applause-line point of supporting — don’t trust him…or, more accurately, pay him no mind.
