By: Martin Rand, III
Date: January 25, 2012
Last night, President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address. According to him, the union has come a long way since he took and office and it's only going to get stronger.
"The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we've come too far to turn back now," said President Obama. "As long as I'm President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place."
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| President Barack Obama (center) delivering his 2012 State of the Union address (Vice President Joe Biden (left) and Speaker of the House John Boehner). |
This was the most he talked about the present state of the country. He spent the majority of the speech telling Congress his vision for the future of the union. His overall vision is equality across the board, creating a stronger economy with more jobs and less debt and building innovating technology for the future.
The way he plans on making these dreams a reality is by getting rid of the value system of politics and getting back to American values.
"So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I'm reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those 50 stars and those 13 stripes," said President Obama. "No one built this country on their own. This nation is great because we built it together. This Nation is great because we worked as a team. This Nation is great because we get each other's backs.
And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard. As long as we're joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong."
Of course, all these promises of a better country with politicians of different parties working together was greeted with rows of applause. However, what wasn't answered was how exactly was it going to change? What is going to make the two parties actually work together and build a better country for the poorer majority and not the richer minority?
Since Obama has been in office, the two sides have bickered and fueled the perception that politicians only care about themselves and their rich constituents.
I want to hear about what the government is going to do to change the mindset and operate effectively and efficiently. Not just a "leaner, quicker, and more responsive" government, but a government with reasonably thinking heads on capitol hill.
In case you all forgot, this is the major reason why the US credit rating was lowered for the first time ever last year.
According to washingtonpost.com, Standard&Poor (S&P) lowered the rating because “political brinkmanship” in the debate over the debt had made the U.S. government’s ability to manage its finances “less stable, less effective and less predictable.”
It said the bipartisan agreement reached that week to find at least $2 trillion in budget savings “fell short” of what was necessary to tame the nation’s debt over time and predicted that leaders would not be likely to achieve more savings in the future.
It rarely, if ever, happens the two sides work together to get things accomplished; and, just like S&P, I don't see that changing anytime soon.
I did notice, throughout the speech, President Obama spoke about getting rid of $2 trillion worth of debt as if it was a good thing though. Huh?
From the education system to the national debt to financial discrimination, America has a lot of problems. However, that's just what's on the surface. The underlying problem is how the republicans and democrats cling to "rigid ideologies instead of building consensus around common sense ideas."
Once that problem is fixed, everything else will make a turn for the better also; and, until that problem is fixed, all of President Obama's other dreams for the future of the union will not come true.
To see the whole State of the Union address go to Pyrate TV.
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