PG 37: Obama’s Big Speech, Iran ‘Hostages’, GOP Debate Madness, Bernie Closes the Gap, Union Free Riders

This week’s Politics Guys starts out with Mike and Jay talking about President Obama’s final State of the Union address. Neither of the guys have much use for SOTUs, and they also agree that President Obama has done a pretty bad job of helping heal partisan divides. (Though Mike gives the president a lot more credit for trying – at least at first – than Jay does.)

After that, the guys get into the Iran ‘hostage’ situation, which was resolved in under 24 hours. Jay thinks that what Iran did was wrong, whereas Mike argues that not only was Iran justified in seizing the two U.S. vessels, but that Iran has a right to be deeply suspicious of U.S. motives given our history in the Middle East.

Then it’s on to the sixth GOP debate, where even a pretense of lucid policy argument has been pretty much abandoned, followed by a discussion of why Bernie Sanders seems to be gaining ground on Hillary Clinton, and if it means that Bernie has a shot at the Democratic nomination.

Finally, Jay brings up a ‘right to work’ case involving public unions that the Supreme Court heard this week. Mike surprised Jay by actually coming out in favor of making union dues non-mandatory, though only if the people opting out negotiate their own salaries and benefits.

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