South Florida Republicans say President Obama missed an opportunity to reach across the aisle in his State of the Union address. The president told House Republicans when they oppose his agenda he’s prepared to go around them as much as possible through using executive orders on items ranging from climate change initiatives to improving federal job training programs. South Florida Republican Mario Diaz-Balart says the president didn’t gain many GOP allies with that announcement.“There is an issue of trust. So when the president then says, well if you don’t do it, you know I am going to do executive orders, or he does those executive orders, it adds to the lack of trust", Diaz-Balart said. "As opposed to working in a bipartisan way to get legislation done.”
Democrats see it quite differently. They say the president’s policies have been held hostage by the tea party wing of the Republican Party and they’re glad he’s finally being more assertive with executive power.
