Area Political Leaders React To Obama’s Speech

As the nation watched President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night, township and local political leaders watched as well and shared their impressions of the president’s speech.  

While gathered at the in Havertown, the Haverford Township Democratic Party had a State of a Union Watch party, one of many held throughout the area and nation Tuesday night.

Judith LaLonde, chairwoman of the Haverford Township Democratic Party, told about the 30 people who gathered at the pub that “it’s time for us to voice our opinion” since the political landscape has shifted due to the township’s redistricting. The resulting “shift” has not only given the township a new representative, but has added more Democratic voters.

While the Democrats watch the president on TV, they applauded and cheered him on, and even groaned at a “don’t cry over spilled milk” joke when he was discussing the need to cut strict government regulations, LaLonde said after the speech that one of the things that stuck with her was how the president urged all Americans to come together.

“I was struck of how we have to take care of our own and our community,” she told the Haverford-Havertown Patch.

Susan Cassanelli, a ward 9-3 committee woman, also echoed LaLonde’s feeling that the president wanted people to come together and improve the community, but she also was critical of the Republican Party, saying, “They put up roadblocks to make others look bad. United we stand, divided we fall.”

Before the president’s speech, LaLonde introduced , a Democratic challenger to Republican Nick Micozzie for the state representative’s position for the 163rd district.

Bonner touched on such topics as education, Marcellus Shale and even the commonwealth’s Children's Health Insurance Program, where he called the program “It’s not a handout, but a hand up.”

But a family emergency forced Bonner to leave moments after the president started to give his speech, but through his Field and Finance Manager David Biesecker, he was able to share his thoughts with Patch via email.

““I am very appreciative of President Obama making mention of the service and sacrifice of the WWII generation. My father is a WWII veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge," Bonner stated, an Army veteran himself. “He also reiterated his support for the Veteran Job Core program that will help returning veterans re-enter the work force. I’m also a supporter of these types of programs and will continue to be an advocate for supporting our veterans’ needs in Harrisburg.”

After the meeting, Patch reached out to Jim Knapp, chairman of the Haverford Township Republican Party, for comment on the president’s speech, but he said he was unable to watch it.

Other township Republican leaders have not yet responded to Patch’s late night emails to them seeking comment.

However, Republican Rep. Patrick Meehan did release a statement about his reaction to the State of the Union speech.

“This needs to be a year of solutions—not blame-game politics. Democrats and Republicans need to keep in mind the hardworking taxpayers who are struggling and the millions who are out of work, including a half-million Pennsylvanians,” he stated.

“I take the president at his word that he wants to work together. We heard some ideas tonight that we can begin to work on. … He talked about increasing American manufacturing jobs. We also need to pass a long term transportation bill that will make our roads and bridges safer, more modern and efficient,” he continued.

The president’s State of the Union speech can be found accompanying this article as a PDF document.