State of the Union Address - Jordan Sylar

     It seems that the time many republicans have been waiting eight years for is finally approaching: Obama is getting ready to leave the presidential office. He gave his final State of the Union address on January 12, with many Americans watching, cheering, and critiquing his words. I was one of those Americans, and I found myself to be impressed, surprised, confused, and saddened by what I observed.

    One of the first things that Obama says is that he will not spend as much time discussing proposals, and he goes straight into a very idealistic rant about the future of our country. All of his ideas were good, sure, but he seemed to be making sugarcoated, unkeepable promises to the American people. I mostly found myself wondering if he believed them, and if not, if he was only saying nice things to maintain the morale of the public. Obama’s speaking skills did impress me, as always, and I can understand how he sways people to support him.

    There were four main points, or rather rhetorical questions, used throughout the speech:  “how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?”, “how do we make technology work for us, and not against us, especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change?”, “how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?”, and “how can we make our politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?”. These are four excellent questions that the American people have not only been asking for a long, long time, but also ones that we desperately need answers to.

    As for his first question about giving everyone fair opportunities, he answers by discussing providing free college and pursuing the Affordable Care Act. Which both seem like good ideas at first glance, but I worry about the consequences of implementation. I do agree that education and healthcare should be accessible to all, I just do not think we have found the best way to provide it without leaning toward socialism.  If this is an issue of equality v equity, I definitely believe that these types of policies lend themselves to equity, and worry about their result on our democracy.

    Technology was addressed mainly in the form of finding new energy sources. He states that there is progress being made in the areas of wind and solar energy, and that this progress will both help the environment and save Americans money. The next point, keeping America safe, I feel was brushed under the rug. Obama seems to have a very high confidence in America’s safety, and he seems to discount threats like Isis too easily. I also feel as though America is taking on too much at once as far as foreign affairs go, and we are quickly becoming the world’s policeman. My desire would be for our safety goals to become simpler and more concentrated.

    As for the last question asked, I would love to know the answer. Obama called for radical change in politics, which I agree with. He said, “The future we want, all of us want — opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids — all that is within our reach. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics.” He goes on to present many more ideas about changing politics and the divisiveness of parties, which I really enjoyed hearing. It was mostly pathos, but I liked the idea presented of using the tools put in place by the framers the right way, and arguing constructively.

His approach to finding solutions can be summed up in the Lincoln quote he used, “we thought anew and acted anew.” The solutions proposed are very much new and forward-thinking, with the end goal of positive change in the areas of technology, economics, medicine, education, etc. Although I didn’t agree with a lot of what was said, I enjoyed this speech. I believe that the first step to improving our country is having leaders that care about the people, and I really hope that Obama cares as much as he claims. He ends by saying “God Bless America”, which is honestly all I can pray after listening to this speech. 

[Please add the points to my FRQ quiz grade]