A serious budget proposal it was not. President Barack Obama’s penultimate State of the Union will be noted for its unabashed economic populism. Barely two months after his party lost the midterm elections, Mr Obama issued the kind of shopping list on which Democrats had unsuccessfully campaigned.

As an exercise in bridge building, Mr Obama scores low marks. But as a statement of America’s economic challenges in the years ahead, there was more substance to it than Republicans may have heard. Mr Obama was right to declare that the US economy has turned a page — having created more jobs since the Great Recession than all the other wealthy countries put together. He was also right to imply that this was a low bar to clear. A majority of Americans remain worse off than they were at the start of the century. In setting out the case for “middle-class economics” Mr Obama offered an alternative to its trickle down variety. It is a debate worth having.

When he began his presidency, Mr Obama told obstructionist Republicans that “elections have consequences”. He went on to push through an $800bn stimulus that helped pull the US out of recession. It was a necessary step that was met with near unanimous Republican opposition.