A Reform Agenda Unfulfilled

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's final State of the Union address was part stump speech for the third term he'll never have and part melancholy addendum to the first speech that propelled him to national attention.

Far more than with George W. Bush in 2008, Bill Clinton in 2000 or Ronald Reagan in 1988, the roiling presidential campaign was an unmentioned but omnipresent subtext of the speech. While Obama's two-term predecessors referred only glancingly to the impending election, his would-be Republican replacements were the unnamed but unmistakable targets of Obama's critique.

Indeed, Donald Trump was watching; the speech, he tweeted, "is really boring, slow, lethargic," which raises the question of what, exactly, he imagines serving as president is like.

Obama's intended audience wasn't so much Trump et al., but voters tempted by Trump's ugly, divisive message. Americans shouldn't be seduced, Obama argued, by those "peddling fiction" about America's economy in decline or American military strength waning.

Likewise, "calls to carpet bomb civilians ... may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage." Take that, Ted Cruz. Nor do overblown claims that the fight against the Islamic State is "World War III." Take that, Chris Christie.

And addressing the revolt against "political correctness" that is the oddly energizing force of the 2016 campaign, Obama renewed his call to "reject any politics ... that targets people because of race or religion."

There have been stretches when Obama exudes the attitude that he can't wait to get out of town, to be freed from having to deal with dumb politicians and dumber politics. He'd rather be browsing in a bookstore than schmoozing with senators.

Tuesday night, with his gracious nod to new House Speaker Paul Ryan and Ryan's interest in issues of poverty, reflected a different Obama, the one reluctant to pack his bags. Even more, the one sorrier not to have another shot, now that he's got a better grasp of how to do the job.

Which leads to the sadder-but-wiser president, and the contrast to the uplifting Obama, circa 2004, with his vision of uniting red and blue America. The older, grayer Obama grasps that achieving "a better politics" is not simply a matter of goodwill and trying harder; he rues that his presidency has instead left the parties more divided than ever.

"We have to change the system to reflect our better selves," he said, citing nonpartisan redistricting, voting rights and campaign finance reform. Specifically, "I believe we've got to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families or hidden interests can't bankroll our elections."

Terrific, but the question arises: Where has this guy been for the last seven years, especially on the issue of campaign finance reform? "It's great for him to talk about it but he's done nothing for the last seven years," said Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer. Although he credits the administration for helping stop some legislative changes that would have made matters even worse. "It's a fundamental failure of his presidency."

In 2008, Obama put the nail in the coffin of the public financing system for presidential campaigns, becoming the first presidential candidate since Watergate to run a campaign fueled entirely by private money. Obama vowed then that he was "firmly committed to reforming the system as president." Uh-huh.

More broadly, Obama has denounced the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, most notably in his 2010 State of the Union address, but has put no real effort into fixing the mess created by the rise of super PACs and, even worse, the gusher of undisclosed "dark money" to groups that claim exemption from reporting requirements.

Obama's Internal Revenue Service has repeatedly postponed writing rules that would force these phony "social welfare organizations" to disclose political spending. The Federal Election Commission remains as dysfunctional as it was the day he took office.

And campaign finance reform advocates have been beseeching the administration for years now to shed at least some sunlight on dark money through an executive order that would require federal contractors to report these contributions. Such an order would not solve the dark money problem, but it would be an important start.

"I can't do these things on my own," Obama said of his promised political reform agenda. The executive order is one thing he can. And it wouldn't require that third term.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.