State of the Union themes meander between inspiration and futility
The President’s State of the Union address, an annual tradition typically delivered with grace, never ceases to interest me.
This past Tuesday, President Obama gave his third such address to Congress, complete with summaries of his administration’s successes, descriptions of current issues the nation faces, and outlines of some bold plans.
Predictably, he steered clear of topics that may hurt him in the upcoming presidential election.
The standard bombardment of handshakes and hugs greeted the President as he made his way to the podium. Seated behind him were Speaker of the House John Boehner and the Vice President Joe Biden. President Obama, our military’s Commander in Chief, praised our military men and women for their work in Iraq over the past nine years, reminding us of the sacrifices made to keep our country free.
Our congressional representatives thundered in response with a standing ovation.
Then it was straight to the economy.
President Obama stressed the need for bipartisanship to reverse our economic problems and rebuild our economy.
He emphasized the need for tax reform. He encourged additional tax breaks to businesses that keep jobs in the United States, fewer for corporations that do not.
Conservatives were hesitant to applaud, the devil of course being in the details, but liberals quickly jumped to their feet.
Obama shifted to education reform with four basic points.
First, we need to adjust the community college objective in this country to better train our workforce. Also we need to disallow dropping out of high school. We need to replace high school teachers that under-perform. Finally, we need to keep higher education tuitions down.
He suggested plans for accomplishing these things, but today’s gridlock makes change unlikely.
Congress’s approval rating stands at just 13.3%, no doubt a reflection of Americans’ lack of confidence in their government’s ability.
President Obama challenged this skepticism directly, imploring Congress to “get those ideas in a bill,” and “get that law on my desk (to be signed).”
He vowed to work toward reforming questionable Congressional practices, including insider trading, buying stock in a companies congressmen affect, and other sketchy loopholes. Challenges for congressional action were shot from the podium with improvement being suggested on clean energy, taxes, business practices, and education.
President Obama also criticized partisan bickering that frequently stands in the way.
Still, the optimism of his speech was tough not to buy into. And his finish was particularly strong.
The president described the Navy SEAL mission that resulted in Bin Laden’s take-down and used it as a metaphor for our nation’s mission.
We need to have each other’s backs and stick together as one team to get through these tough times. We must act as one nation no matter what political beliefs we have or social class we belong to.
If we do this, he said, “the state of our union will always be strong.”
You can follow Colin Criss on Twitter @ADKCurrent
