President Obama gave his first State of the Union Address on January 27th, 2010, and I watched the entire telecast, including the GOP opinion afterwards. I am not one to love politics or to really get involved in them, but I am trying to change that. My 2009 New Year's resolution was to become more politically aware. I think I accomplished that. Now, I want to really form my own opinions on topics and have the information to back them up.
Anyway, Obama... I got to hand it to him. Whether or not you are a fan, he is one of the most eloquent speakers I have ever witnessed. Communication is not a problem for him, and it is about time we had such a confident and positive leader personality to broadcast to the world.
However, despite his charisma, I am not the biggest fan of him. He has had a year, and from what I have felt with the economy, 2009 became even worse than 2008. He spent 800 million dollars to create jobs, and help the economy. Change is what he promised. I am proof that none of this has worked. Something needs to change, and it all starts in Washington.
I see that he is such an idealist, and that is how he won much of his fan base.
Okay, now about the speech. I felt that he had some really good points. The points he raises are true and valid. Here are some I agree with:
1. "We face big and difficult challenges," but he has never been "more hopeful about America's future than tonight." I'd agree. We can only go up from here, we have too. I cannot imagine things much worse other than an official declaration of a depression.
2. Economy is the biggest and most urgent task to fix. Self explanatory. Everyone should agree. I, too, disagreed with the bail out, although I understand why it was done. But, if you believe in capitalism, then no help should have been offered. Companies will start anew and jobs will be needed for newly founded corps.
3. Jobs will be #1 focus for 2010, and he will create a new bill to help out. Finally! I want a job! 1/10 are out of work, and that does not include those who have taken a lower paying job just to survive and those recent college graduates struggling to live. This should have been the priority since day one.
4. 30 billion dollars will go from Wall Street to small businesses. Small businesses are the key to stimulating the economy. Small companies will make up a large majority of newly created jobs, thus will spend money to pay salaries, which in turn will be spent by the employees back into the economy.
5. Tax rebates offered to home that become more energy efficient. I think this is a great incentive to get US as a leading energy-efficient nation. Being the last superpower, it is up to us to lead the example to help our planet. So much more can be done, and I think this is a good start.
6. "I do not accept second place for the U.S.A." Nor do I! I believe we are the greatest country, and we have so much to offer. I am proud of this nation. That was probably his best quote of the night.
7. Energy innovation will increase through nuclear power plants, coal technologies, and oil developments off shore. (Notice he never really mentioned global warming or climate change. I still remain skeptical about the term given that this has been the coldest winter in over a generation, and each year gets colder and colder. But that is another issue.)
8. Strengthen America's exports within next 5 years. This will lead to stronger connections with Asia, Columbia and national trade.
9. Education is the best fight against poverty. yes. Every student should have access to an education. We need to make college more affordable, or else the gap between the rich and poor will grow even more, and that cannot be good for our nation's future as a leading global power. I also liked his proposal for those who graduate college and enter into public service would be forgiven student debts. This will make our domestic line of defense a lot stronger, and taken with more pride, as our would-be police men and women are going to where the money is rather than the community to work.
10. With our budget in crisis, Obama proposes having a website created to show exactly how each dollar is spent by the government. This will decrease government secrecy and public discontent on Obama's mismanagement of money.
11. Weekly meetings with both Democrat and Republican leaders. Good.
12. Create new national support to military families. They need a better transition and we owe it to them.
13. North Korea will face growing consequences.
Okay. So that seems like a pretty good list. Now here are the points I did not agree with:
1. For the economy, Obama passed 25+ tax cuts on federal level. Yes, that is good, BUT, instead he taxed the rich more, and then increased the state taxes. So with decreased federal tax, the states had to compensate and pay for more. That is why NJ is in such huge deficit and may have even led to why Mass elected a new Republican Senator, maybe? States suffered.
2. For economy, Obama mentioned taxing corporations more than the individual for money. This would not work at all because if his number one priority is creating jobs, then why would a company hire new employees if they cannot afford them due to tax. Do not tax the companies if you want to create new jobs!!
3. For doubling exports, his time frame is within next five years. His term is only for 4, so he plans to spend more money on increasing his government power for something our economy would not feel the effect until his term ends.
4. Education - Obama will pass a bill to revitalize the community college. That is fine, as local colleges are key to a communities survival. However, if higher education becomes affordable or so low in cost, that all have access to it, are we not then sharing a privilege that most strive to work for? In other words, education may become more communist than a democratic trait given the fact we all have equal access to something that used to define class or social status. If it becomes all equal, then it will not be valued.
5. Health Insurance -ugh! Where to start? I do see why Obama has tackled this issue, and why it appeals to many, especially the poor. However, I see that once the government has the control over such an important part of an individual's life, then the government will become bigger and bigger. What most do not realize, is that even with health reform passed, you can only choose from a number of selected doctors the government recommends and only have certain procedures covered. So you are paying less for less treatment. What is good about that? You are still paying for insurance, for a doctor, and how is that any different than what we currently have? Health care is just a HUGE money mismanagement that will result in great troubles in future generations. Health care needs to be affordable, and accessbile across state lines, not in the hands of the gov. There is no such thing as a one size fits all investment that will cover all Americans.
6. The Budget- for a nation that is already in massive debt, why would it be necessary to spend 684 BILLION? Secondly, how can health care reform then decrease the budget? Sorry if this seems crazy, but wouldnt spending money one deosnt have result in a greater debt? I thought I learned that in, idk, 4th grade!
7. Freeze spending - Obama promised when he was on campaign that he would not freeze any spending, however, he now says it may be necessary. That sounds like a broken promise to me, or even a change in policy.
8. What about immigration laws or borders? He not once mentioned this topic as it became something Bush was under a lot of heat for. That doesn't seem fair.
9. Energy- if you want to increase off shore drilling, must use sources here at home first! Drill in Alaska, the Atlantic. We must use what we have here before we look outwards to other sources. This has potential to weaken our international prowess.
10. Christmas day terrorist - how could he be let go so quickly? Did Obama not think we could use him to get more information? He almost succeeded, what was his punishment? We need to protect the people not the terrorists!
Overall.... Obama is an idealist. His points and vision of America sound amazing and inspiring, but his implementation of these plans have been anything but. They have spent the money he promised would increase jobs when he was inaugurated, but that did not happen. It failed. The government is doing too much, spread too thin. We need to concentrate at domestic issues in order to grow again. This needs to result in giving the money back to small businesses and people. If the government has spent the money, gotten more control, and decreased international security. I am afraid we are now open to greater opposition. I agree for our current economic state, a government closest to the people governs best. Keep it small, keep it free. We will conquer.
God bless the U.S.A. Here we go 2010. May it be a good year.
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