President Barack Obama really did a remarkable job of laying out an agenda for the country that will last far beyond his term of office ("Obama sounds populist themes in State of the Union," Jan. 20).
Many thought that the Affordable Health Care Act would be his sole legacy, but that is not even close to the truth.
President Obama identified several pressing needs for our society: equal pay for equal work, free community college tuition, affordable day care, paid sick leave and retirement security.
These goals will be financed by restructuring the tax code and eliminating tax loopholes for corporations and the rich.
Political pundits claim that the president's initiatives are "dead in the water" and stand no chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Congress.
That may be true for this year, but all of these initiatives eventually will become laws because the pace of change is accelerating; just look at the swift change in attitudes that led to the passage of laws allowing same-sex marriage.
All of President Obama's proposals are achievable, but it may take a decade of voters demanding that their needs be met. And in a couple of years, the Obama haters will have to find some other scapegoat for their grievances.
Income inequality is getting a lot of attention, and even Pope Francis has debunked the myth of "trickle down" economics. The sinking of the middle class has been widely reported. What do the Republicans have to offer?
I think the honest answer is "nothing," or at least "not much." We have heard that the economy is the most important issues for American voters. Let's fix the economy and let's give the middle class as well as those who have still not reached that status the opportunities we all claim to value.
Edward McCarey McDonnell, Baltimore