STERLING, Va. — The state of the union here in Strip Mall America remains bleak, which could spell doom for Democrats in congressional elections later this year.
But here at Glory Days Grill, President Obama, while getting a little bruised by voters watching last night’s State of the Union Address, could still revel in his past glory of high oratory and soaring promises of hope and change.
Glory Days is a sports bar where the bartender, Tyler Orpin, really does know everybody’s name.
It’s also the sort of place where folks watching images on TV of the president and Michelle Obama out on the town at 9 p.m. blurt out with a slight hint of disgust: “Who’s watching the kids?”
And this is no ordinary spot. This is a precinct in a congressional district that normally votes Republican but swung for Obama in 2008.
It is here, where the endless suburbs of Washington begin to meet the first rolling fields of rural Virginia, that Obama’s political future hangs in the balance.
Republicans will tell you that Obama’s casual indifference to the concerns of voters is startling. His arrogance has become grating.
“God, I don’t want to listen to this,” Orpin said when Obama first began speaking.
“Everything he said he would do, he has not done,” said Orpin, 23, a Republican.
“He drives me crazy,” she said. “I literally can’t stand to hear him speak.”
When Obama was making new promises about creating new jobs, Chris Houser, 27, interjected: “Isn’t this what he said last year?”
A year after Obama took office, unemployment remains stubbornly high around here.
The cost of health insurance continues to go up. Entire tracts of newly built neighborhoods sit unsold.
But while independent voters who make this area so important to Obama’s future have nothing nice to say about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, they still have a reservoir of patience for Obama.
“I still like him,” said Dan Ryan, 49, a Navy captain who has voted for Democrats and Republicans alike over the years.
“He works hard,” he said, looking up at Obama on the TV. “He’s trying his best. And he admits his mistakes. He’s good.”
Also watching at the bar was Josh Lanier, 29, who replaces doors and windows for a living.
A Democrat, Lanier voted for Obama and has seen his business jump with the federal government’s tax incentives encouraging people to make their homes more energy efficient.
Lanier marveled at the president’s stirring speech: “If this guy was a football coach, man, he would have a team that would run through a brick wall for him. The man can talk.”