26 January 2012
I hope everybody watched the President’s State of the Union address that was broadcast on Tuesday the 24th. I think it is important to watch our President speak despite your own individual political leanings. He is the leader of our country and he speaks for us all. So it’s important to know what’s on his mind and where he’s at as far as the direction he wants to take our country.
It’s an election year and what we got was a good political campaign speech. Nothing more nothing less. Once again the President used the SOTU as a platform to proclaim his own agenda. He has used this occasion to launch his campaign for re-election. Now if you are a supporter, you might be getting a little riled up at that. Well let me try to assuage you a little. He's not the first nor is he going to be the last. I just wish the Presidents of the time would use this to report exactly what shape our country is in and tell us where we are going or at the least where we need to go. That is its purpose after all.
Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution requires that "The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The timing of this address is not set in stone. It is done in January after Congress reconvenes from their break in session. Makes sense to me as the President is going to need Congress to get things done and hopefully he can use the time to spark a spirit of bipartisanship amongst the Congress. In the early days, the text of the SOTU was written and delivered and made available to the general public through newspapers, the only real media at the time.
The point I make is that it should not be a time to say look at me, look at what I have done, look at what the previous administration has not done. And for once, President Obama did not spend too much time on the latter. Though he did mention the previous administration. I think the SOTU should be a statement of fact as to where our country is at, at this time. As a hypothetical example. The President reports “we currently sit at an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent as of December 2011. This is what we need to do to fix that…” What we got from President Obama was:
“In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s.”
While this is good and true news, what we didn’t hear was that the job numbers are still 1.7 million unemployed from where it was a month before he went in office and about 6 million below what it was at the best point in the Bush administration. And that is straight from the report provided by FactCheck.org.
Another subject near and dear to me is illegal immigration. Obama reports that we have fewer border crossings due to his efforts in putting more troops on the border. Actually he only increased it slightly after President Bush doubled the Border force and the numbers he used were total US border crossings omitting that most of those were along the Mexican border. Again from Factcheck.org. The day after the SOTU, President Obama went to Arizona and was greeted by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Governor Brewer reports she attempted to talk to the President about the immigration problem and border security. He shook her hand mentioned something critical and negative about her book and went on about his business there in Arizona. We need a President that’s going to work with our Governors and the states they represent. Not sue them in Federal court and withhold discussion and cooperation based on political agenda. It is contrary to the term “Nation” or “United States”.
Despite this, this year’s SOTU was a far cry better than his first one when his speech as nothing but a lambasting of the previous administration. This speech had some teeth to it and I loved how he called on Congress to get its act together and forward some meaningful legislation specifically in regards to education, tax overhaul and lessening our dependence on foreign oil. All issues I strongly agree with and hope that we do just that. But it is an election year and I would love to believe in what Barrack Obama says but history has shown that what he says and what he does are largely two different things or that he never tell the whole story.
My thoughts on the State of our Union? I think our country is in the midst of turmoil. I think our nation and our people are more polarized than ever before. I believe that the country is divided by left and right now more than it has ever been. I think the politics of separation, hate and personal gain rule the day and I think that it’s going to take massive change or some cataclysmic event for our country to come together as one. I believe our country cries for a leader. Our people need someone that can bring us together or at least get us in the same room to talk. And in this election, I don’t see anyone with the chops that can really do that right now. I believe that it is going to be up to us, the people of this great country to rein in this government and reset its course to a direction that serves the needs of the people it serves.
Todays “Did Ya Know?” No word in the English language rhymes with "MONTH". Also its National Peanut Brittle Day!!!! Chomp away America!!
Links for today:
The State of the Union:
Fact Check.org
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Facebook:
It seems the show "The West Wing" has the answer for the seemingly inappropriate campaigning done by a "sitting" president.
ReplyDeleteJed Bartlett characterized the presidency as one year of governing followed by three years of campaigning. From what I've seen, that's about right no matter which party is in office.