KP: SOTU Extra Credit

On January 12, at roughly 9:10 pm, President Obama gave his last State of the Union address. My initial impressions, just based purely on rhetoric, were more pleasant than I expected. Living in the midst of the conservative South, it almost seems second nature to dislike any and all things put forth by the Obama administration. This speech was definitely viewed in a skewed light, as I found myself being rather critical and looking for disagreements, but perhaps that is because nothing is unbiased anymore. Regardless, here are my thoughts.

Obama began with stating that this speech won’t be filled with a traditional list of proposals for the year ahead, however, the following paragraph read a bit like someone running for class president and wanting to initiate no homework, recess all day, and dessert for every meal. Pushing that aside, he gets to his theme for his final address: the future. We live in a time of change and because we adapted to it, we are stronger than before. According to Obama, our recovery from the economic crisis, reform of the health care system, and resulted in the Supreme Court ruling this summer was all product of our work ethic, diversity, discovery, and optimism. With this in mind, we must focus on the future that has been so kindly separated into four points for us.

First is the question of “how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?” Immediately my mind was drawn to an economics discussion we once had, equality or equity. Equal treatment or equal opportunity? I believe this portion of his speech, if nothing else, highlighted the differences between the two. While in good efforts, this first point seemed to be largely about equalizing the treatment of individuals, the education system, healthcare benefits, etc. I guess my question is what more does Obama want? With ObamaCare  and NCLB, working through Common Core in place, what other equalizing treatment does he propose the country offer?

The next question is “how do we reignite the spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges?” My first impression was something along the lines of, what in the world is this man talking about and is this a tangible point? Moving forward, Obama declared action to continue the American legacy of discovery paired with advancements in technology, and appointed Joe Biden head of something to do with medical research and curing cancer. Global warming, gas prices, and solar panels all fell into this topic as well, but to be honest I didn’t quite follow it all. I know he is calling for a reawakening and continued excellence in these fields, but other than that I’m a bit lost.

What I did understand was the mention of America being the greatest country on earth, and the mention of ISIL in the third topic of the speech. I find it interesting that we are the most powerful nation, yet we have not taken extreme measures to fight this group of heartless terrorists, but that’s just my two cents. I understand that for the past year we have joined with nearly 60 other countries to cut off funding, fights, and plots, but what I don’t understand is the apparent contentment with these plans as attacks continued to happen.  I agree with the President and that we should be serious about winning this war, but I understand that it is a delicate matter. I also got the sense of America as having their hands in a little bit of everything, from conflict in Syria and drawing weapons out of Iran, to fighting Ebola in West Africa and resuming relations with Cuba. We are inching towards that policeman mentality, and I pray that we approach that line with much thought and consideration of the consequences.

Lastly, Obama spoke about politics. Radical change in politics is what he wants. He made a mention of respecting every faith, which I thought to be a bit of a rose colored glasses view of American culture. Regardless, this is where I saw the strongest tie to his theme of the future. He pleads for a better political system for the future, one with vague ideas of how to implement. I didn’t get the practical ways this would happen, but maybe that’s perhaps I don’t quite grasp the political realm yet. I did see mention of federalism and the conflict the framers knew it would entail, and I was relieved to see a topic I nearly completely understood.

Overall, I clearly saw Obama’s theme of the future; however, I seemed to get lost in the four points just a bit. While many fact checkers go to show that his points were embellished and dressed up, I am still in awe of the power of words. This speech was uber American, uber empowering, and I can see why some people so easily like him. He tied it up with a pretty bow full of pathos, but effective nonetheless. While I wish I understood more, and desperately want better facts, I was ultimately shocked to see that after the year we had as a country, the optimism rang loud that the State of our Union is still strong.

[extra credit for the Unit 1 test]