I watched the President’s State of the Union address
and like some in attendance had a hard time keeping my eyes
open. If it weren’t for all the applause, I’m sure
I would have fallen asleep: my wife did. I fought to stay alert
and even stayed up to hear the opinions discussed after the
speech ended.
It always amuses me that the major TV stations allow equal
time or what they call rebuttals. Why? The address left little
to rebut, if the commentators were watching the same one I
watched.
I
felt the President’s comments regarding Christina Taylor
Green, whose family was invited to attend, were appropriate
as he reiterated his hopes that our government will meet her
expectations. He also acknowledged Congresswoman Gifford’s
empty chair and all of the assembly were wearing ribbons
in support of her.
I was surprised to see Senator McCain stand and vigorously
applaud many times in response to portions of the speech. I
was disappointed however that the new speaker of the House,
John Boehner seldom applauded, especially after hearing the
President announce he was eager to work with both parties and
was looking forward to new ideas.
The
new seating arrangement, mixing Democrats and Republicans
together — not allowing them to sit in blocks
together appeared to cut down and almost eliminate
statements
from the floor. It also made it difficult for either
group to
ignore
when the assembly stood and applauded.
President
Obama said that in the past one didn’t always
need a college degree but “The world is changing, China
and India are catching up to us.” He continued saying,
although we are still at the top, we need better education
and more degrees to remain in that position. “We need
to outdo,” the rest of the world on clean and
renewable energy and break our dependence on petroleum
products.
These comments drew a standing ovation as he concluded
with a suggestion
we cut our subsidies to the oil industry and instead
invest in our future.
The
President acknowledged we need to work hard to keep up with
the new electronic age because others
are. We
need to
have more high speed internet available to all.
He thinks parents need to take more responsibility for
their children’s
education and work with them when they encounter problems.
I loved this comment he made, “Remember the winner of
the Science Fair is just as important as the winner of the
Super Bowl.” He also said we should reward
the good educators and stop excusing the poor ones
and
encourage or future high
school graduates to go on to become teachers. He
explained there is a great need for good teachers
with many jobs
opening up as baby boomers in the teaching professions
retire. He
would like it to be our goal that we have the highest
proportion
of college graduates in the world.
High
speed rail systems were high on his list of priorities, as
he pointed out they would relieve
the pressure on
air travel. He displayed a bit of humor saying, “It could be nearly
as fast but without the pat downs.” Our
need to continue rebuilding our infrastructure
is also
of great
importance
to all of us the President remarked and said
our country is experiencing
daily breakdowns as the aging process causes
more and more failures.
The
President called for cuts in the deficit by placing a freeze
on domestic spending for
five
years. He
also called for strengthening
Social Security without cutting those presently
receiving it or those close to joining the
program. He challenged
billionaires
to give up their tax breaks and begin paying
their fair share. He said, “Think of
it as a contribution to the country.”
As I see it, the speech was boring and condescending.
The
pushing and shoving, reaching out and calling for autographs
as the President left the podium proved
to be the most exciting part of the event. Many reached for
the “executive” pen
to take home as a souvenir.
I
thought the follow-up interviews on NBC were ridiculous,
as the first speaker was
disappointed
that the President
did not mention gun control. It was obvious
this topic did not
belong in the address. Although it is
a favorite theme of mine, that we need more
than a two-party
system
I believe some people
are being fooled by a shadow innocently
called the Tea Party.
It could just as easily be spelled REPUBLICAN
and be the same just without tea being
served. When
you think
about
it, tea
parties have taken place for years — the
new ones are just a little noisier.