Both President Barack Obama and Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who delivered the GOP rebuttal to the State of the Union — seemed to speak directly to Donald Trump at times on Tuesday night. In fact, they had strikingly similar messages of tolerance and bipartisanship.
While they wouldn’t agree on much policy, at many moments their speeches sounded very similar.
Can you tell the difference?
1) We need to be honest with each other, and with ourselves: While Democrats in Washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing America today, they do not bear it alone. There is more than enough blame to go around.
2) Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.
3) Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.
4) No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.
5) Many of our best corporate citizens are also our most creative.
6) We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong.
7) We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration. And it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. Just like we have for centuries.
8) When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn’t make us safer. That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong.
9) Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.
10) As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don’t look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background.
Haley — 1, 2, 4, 7, 9
Obama — 3, 5, 6, 8, 10
