EXPERTS ADVISORY

President Obama will give his final State of the Union address Tuesday, Jan. 12. University of Michigan experts are available to offer their insights about the speech:

Aaron Kall is director of the U-M Debate Program and Debate Institute.

“President Obama will use his last State of the Union Address to shine a spotlight on his wide array of international and domestic accomplishments, while simultaneously outlining his policy vision for his final year in office. This will be one of the last opportunities for him to command a large national viewing audience before the November election, which will largely determine the legacy of President Obama and the fate of his signature agenda items.”

Contact: 734-239-3996, akall@umich.edu

Josh Pasek is an assistant professor of communication studies and faculty associate in the Center for Political Studies.

“The State of the Union has traditionally been the occasion for the president to use the bully pulpit to shape the national agenda. But in the era of partisan polarization, social media and immediate response, there isn’t much of a bully pulpit left.”

Contact: 734-764-3186, jpasek@umich.edu

Arthur Lupia is the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science and research professor at the Center for Political Studies.

“Democracy benefits when both political parties effectively articulate their vision for the future. So, when a State of the Union address or the opposition’s response is notable for something other than its message, the outcome is bad for the nation as a whole.”

Contact: 734-647-7549, lupia@umich.edu

HEALTH REFORM
Peter Jacobson is a professor of health law and policy, and director for the Center for Law, Ethics, and Health at the School of Public Health.

“By the most important measures, the Affordable Care Act has been a significant and successful achievement. Millions of previously uninsured individuals now have access to health care, and the act contributed to lowering the cost of health care. People no longer need to fear that previous illness will bar them from having health insurance. While reasonable changes could certainly improve the ACA, millions of Americans have seen real benefits from its enactment.”

Contact: 734-936-0928, pdj@umich.edu

GUNS
L. Rowell Huesmann is the Amos N. Tversky Collegiate Professor of Communications Studies and Psychology and research professor at the Institute for Social Research.

“President Obama has already taken significant action against gun violence both by promoting a public discourse on the topic and by directing NIH to fund research on gun violence,” he said. “Some of this research, including research at Michigan’s ISR, is directed at understanding the psychological characteristics of those who use guns to commit violent acts. The enhanced background checks for gun purchases that the president is likely to order certainly can diminish the likelihood of gun violence particularly when the background checks incorporate the findings from such research.”

Contact: 734-764-8385, huesmann@umich.edu

IMMIGRATION
Jason De Leon, assistant professor of anthropology, has spent the last five years researching immigration from Mexico and Central America to the U.S.

“I expect Obama to highlight some of his administration’s previous stopgap measures while stressing the need for comprehensive immigration reform, which will likely be vaguely outlined, if at all. I anticipate some discussion of increased border security measures that have happened under his administration and some reference to the slowing of recent Central American migration as a way to demonstrate that he has been tough on recent immigration.

If recent ICE raids are mentioned at all, I imagine that he will be critical of them as a violent spectacle and place the blame for these raids on political pressure from Republicans. In general, the Central American migration crisis will likely be discussed in vague terms with no reference to the role that the U.S. is playing in helping/pressuring the Mexican government to stop migrants before they get to the U.S./Mexico border or the violence that people are currently experiencing upon return to their countries of origin.”

Contact: 734-764-8577, jpdeleon@umich.edu