State of the Union Address
January 25th, 2011
Delivered by President Barack Obama
Although I was unable to watch the SOTU as a whole, I've heard and read the major points, opening statement, Republican responses, conclusion, news updates, and internet commentators. The address focused on more broad themes and less on a laundry list of policy proposals -- which, surprisingly, I liked.
The tone "after Tucson" was very appropriate as the President honored Congresswoman Giffords and recognized the empty chair in the chamber. Congress members wore black and white ribbons to honor her (loved that!). And President Obama called for the people to pray for "our colleague and friend." The Today Show reported that Giffords's husband held his wife's hand while watching the address live.
While President Obama did not mention gun control as expected, I'm satisfied that he didn't. I don't think it would've been appropriate to discuss that so close to the tragedy. And -- it would've most likely caused bipartisan bickering throughout Washington! Opposed to the President's neglect on the matter, Paul Helmke released this statement:
"How can President Obama tell us in his State of the Union speech tonight that 'the dreams of a little girl in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, and that all deserve the chance to be fulfilled,' without talking about the gun violence that destroyed those dreams?
It wasn't the lack of innovation, education, or investment, too many regulations or too much debt that ended Christina's life and her dreams -- it was a clearly dangerous man who had way too easy access to a gun with a high-capacity ammunition magazine -- good only for killing many people quickly. We need the President to push for laws to reduce the gun violence that shattered Tucson, and Christina's family, and that shatters the lives of more than 100,000 Americans every year."
The First Lady Michelle Obama invited many high school students, researchers, CEO's, and small business owners to her guest box in the chamber. But the Green family were the guests who stood out last night. I really loved that they were invited in this difficult time.
On to his speech ---
It seemed that the President's theme of the evening was increase, increase, increase in spending -- which was not something "the people" necessarily wanted to hear. He believes our focus is to increase spending in energy infrastructure and innovation (with, of course, increasing jobs). But, sure that sounds good - to outbuild the world - but how exactly?! Who is he expecting to pay for this? He stated we need to outbuild the rest of the world, specifically naming India and China. Some good points included malpractice reform and the 1099 reform. He called for more civilty. But something I definitely noticed -- there was no leadership in the debt/deficit issue . . . that obviously needed to be dealt with. I'd guess his address was less than 10% deficit-driven. He also called for a 5-year freeze in the domestic non-security budget. But said he's willing to eliminate what we can always afford to do without. Good cover, Obama. BUT he made sure to say -- we won't be doing this on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. Healthcare was another surprise at the address. He said instead or re-fighting the battles of the past two years, let's find ideas and work together. Woo-hoo, right?! Like people say - communism looks great on paper. So does healthcare. He says let's fix what needs fixin' and move on. This is when I began to wonder . . . is he just trying to appease his audience? I think so.
Aside from the address, the atmosphere of the room was awesome. It gave me chills to see Republicans paired up with Democrats instead of the common segregation. John McCain sat with John Kerry! And, a big surprise, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sat with GOP leader Rusco Bartlett.
Here's proof:
Obama's comment on the comming together of parties: "What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow." Amen.
Another addition to the address -- Republican John Boehner . Boy, was I glad to see someone other than Nancy Pelosi sitting beside Joe Biden last night! As the new Speaker of the House, Boehner was brought in, like most recently elected Republicans, with a no-spending platform. Bad choice of words tonight, Obama. You didn't get much of a standing ovation on that one.
Matt Lauer interviewed former mayor of NYC and 2008 presidential candidate Republican Rudy Giuliani. I agreed with him -- he fell short and missed the opportunity of the deficit. Big government will continue. Really? Lauer asked Giuliani a trivial question about the Republican party: could American's see the party split as the 2012 election nears? While Giuliani was skeptical, it sure had me questioning the same thing as I thought about last night's Republican Responses.
Paul Ryan of Wisconsin delivered the offical GOP response. Later, Michelle Bachmann, with a different twist, responded via internet. Although the two didn't verge on policy exactly, their styles differed greatly.
"We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people; that we share common hopes and a common creed"
President Obama began his efforts to gain back Democratic control for 2012 in Wisconsin today (where he won by 14% in '08 but was recently turned over to the Republican party in this past election).
Stay tuned . . . this ought to be good!
The best thing about the SOTU?
Each year, one member of the President's cabinet is absent from the address, to maintain the line of succession in case of emergency.
Okay. How cool is that?!
Very thorough
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