The lead article in today’s New York Times,”Obama Proposing Bipartisan Effort to Win the Future,” shows the power of a vision, succinctly and effectively told, to the American people.

During his State of the Union address, President Obama referred to our current time as a “Sputnik” moment, a crossroads when we can rise up and meet the challenges that confront us. He talked about our need to be competitive in a global economy, to out-innovate and out-build other countries, to attract people from all over the world to our unparalleled educational institutions. He talked about “green” technology, high-speed rail and other industries where we are currently being bested by other countries.

The speech was a bit on the long side, at more than a hour, and it lacked the drama of his speech at Tucson but really only suffered by comparison. Paul Ryan’s response, the Republican response, on the other hand, was somewhat mundane due to his almost exclusive focus on the national debt.

Frankly, I was relieved to see President Obama’s speech conclude without incident. We certainly didn’t need another member leaping up to say “You lie,” like we had last year. In fact, the Republicans were relatively well-behaved, perhaps a factor of the mixed seating that resulted from the attempted assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords.

The real test, however, will revolve around how much of President Obama’s vision we can actually implement. Can we really win the future?

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Taking Control, G.O.P. Overhauls Rules in House,” describes some purely partisan actions by the Republicans as they took over the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress.

Despite vows of inclusiveness and a new way of doing business, the Republicans immediately changed the rules to favor their way of operating. While their promise to find an offsetting source of revenue for every spending increase sounded noble, they made two major exemptions to the rule, tax cuts and the healthcare legislation.

The healthcare legislation, designed to save $100 billion in revenue, will be subject to an immediate repeal vote without trying to make up the resulting hole in the deficit that will result. And the ability to propose tax cuts without determining how the shortfall of revenue that will result will be accounted for, shows that the Republicans are still playing fast and loose with the taxpayers’ money.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, the Democrats are trying to change the rules to help prevent the abuse of the filibuster prevalent in the last Congress. That debate has been delayed until January 25th through a parliamentary maneuver, but again, the will of the voter seems to be taking a back seat to the internecine warfare that is breaking out in both chambers of Congress.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “G.O.P. Newcomers Set Out to Undo Obama Victories,” describes a fundamental misreading of the American public by new Republicans and the Tea Party in particular.

The article notes that one of the first priorities of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will involve a focus on the repeal of “Obamacare,” President Obama’s recently passed univeral healthcare plan. First of all, this represents a tactical error, because the American people have said again and again that they are more interested in jobs and the economy. By focusing first on healthcare, the Republicans are making the same “mistake” they accused the Democrats of making, by ignoring the most important concerns of the American people for ideological reasons.

In addition, the Republicans are making a strategic error as well. By focusing on the healthcare plan, they are giving the Democrats another chance to defend it, a chance they could not possibly botch up as much as they did the last time. The Democrats will point to real tangible benefits, already in effect as of January 1st, that the Republicans are proposing to “snatch” away.

The article also notes another confrontation point is looming on the horizon. The federal debt limit will probably need to be extended in March. Failure to do so, a real possibility with Tea Party Senators able to filibuster legislation, will result in a default by the United States on its debt obligations, something that’s never happened before.