State of the Union Address 2011
Before even getting into the actual content of this year's State of the Union Address, delivered by President Obama, it is interesting to me how easily I found the video recording of the speech the morning after it was delivered. The White House apparently uploaded it to YouTube the night of the speech. They even published an “enhanced version”, which is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2g40GoRxg&feature=channel
The enhanced version starts out with trivia questions and answers regarding the history of The State of the Union Address. Then, as President Obama invokes the recent shooting attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the “ enhancement panel” displays a picture of the Congresswoman from Arizona's 8 th District.
When a President has as much charisma as President Obama does, and when that president delivers a good performance in the form of a speech, it may go against the grain to criticize the content of that speech. This speech was really about the American Dream, in my humble opinion. The speech was geared toward restoring confidence, rather than “telling it like it is”.
Something that can be difficult to know, while merely listening to a speech, is where the facts come from. One can shake their head and say “ that's not right” - if one has different figures in mind. Or one can burst out with a comment like, “You Lie!”, as happened in the previous State of the Union given by President Obama. This difficulty was taken away by this “enhanced version” of the speech. I'm glad I just could not stay awake for the speech as it was given live. Had I forced myself to stay awake, I would never had to search for the video on the Internet.
One of the most telling bits of information was a chart showing that the President was using GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to compare the United States with other nations including China. The interesting thing is that his figures showed separate entries for Germany and France, while most comparative sources, including the CIA World Factbook, report a single entry for the European Union when comparing GDP. The CIA World Factbook uses estimates which show the European Union exceeding the US GDP in 2010. Also, some people feel that the GNP (Gross National Product) is a better measure of the wealth of a nation since it takes into account the net income from assets abroad.
One of the largest problems we face, in terms of power consumption and our dependency on oil, is that other governments may decide to put their oil up for sale using a currency other than the US Dollar, which has been a de-facto standard that has increased our “ world-wide credit score”. This sort of information was absent from the speech.
I suppose this speech could be seen as a continuation of Obama's message of hope. He started with rhetoric about the American Dream, and how we all share a common creed. It was all very vague, as if from a dream. He emphasized with precision-vagueness that we are “ set apart as a nation” by our common creed and dream, and also apparently by our contentious debates. It wasn't clear who we are set apart from, but the message was clear: We are better than whomever they may be, and we are unified. Who would argue with something that makes them feel good?
Well... I guess maybe I will. Quite frankly, I'm not sure which creed he was talking about. Everyone at the event must have know though, because it received healthy applause. Since we have freedom of religion, he certainly can't mean that we share a common religious creed; because, that simply isn't the case. Since there is debate over whether or not health care should be a universal “right”, it would seem we have to rule out a common creed that would include Socialist ideals.
Perhaps, the President was speaking of our country's Constitution as our common creed. That certainly could be seen as a set of fundamental beliefs, or creed. Or, perhaps, President Obama was just stating that we share a common creed in the hopes that we will all buy into his dream.
The President invoked a metaphor of the “American Family”. This is interesting, because it seems to me to be a subconscious call to authority that hasn't been granted to Obama. If we are an American Family – then what role does he play in this metaphor?
In his speech, the president outlined a five step outline for “ Winning the Future”. I don't think many would argue with the president's 5-step tango; but, the means which we achieve those goals will truly set us apart from the “other guys”.
I think his comments were mainly designed to try and gather support for the budget he is going to propose to Congress. The word “ stimulus” has been replaced by “investment”, but the overall message is a consistent Democrat strategy: Spend your money to regulate your life
Step 1: Innovation
Obama suggests that this is our “Sputnik moment”. I don't know how much JFK spent to form NASA and send a man to the moon; but, I'm pretty sure we can't afford to have that level of government sponsored innovation take place at this time. I think most people would agree that we need more innovation; but, shouldn't that be a private industry affair? What place does this have in informing Congress what the State of the Union is? This was clearly a call to “invest” tax dollars in government sponsored projects.
Step 2: Education
The president showed that the US has fallen to 9 th place in terms of the number of individuals with college degrees. How can the government fix this? Should the government be in the business of fixing this? This will no doubt be a call to more spending by the National Government, as well as regulations forced upon the several States.
In his talk about the future of Education, the president entered our homes and schooled us all in some values we should hold regarding the Super Bowl and the local science fair. While I don't disagree with his notion, I am very opposed to the fact that he took it upon himself to comment on things that are beyond the scope of his authority. He isn't speaking as our father, as a relative, or even a concerned friend. He is speaking as the President of these United States. As such, he was out of line.
If we allow him to go beyond his boundaries when we agree with him, it sets a precedent for some time in the future, when we may not.
Step 3: Rebuilding
Infrastructure “investments” will be the outcome of this. Of all the things the government is spending our money on – this is actually the best thing they could legitimately be spending it on. But rather than looking at building high speed rails, perhaps we should be fixing the bridges that are falling apart all over the country. Unless someone is going to throw the towel in on the automobile, our highways and bridges are in dire need. Many of these highways are truly relevant to interstate commerce, and actually do fall within the purview of the national government, as defined in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Step 4: Responsibility
Obama's idea of responsibility is short sited, in my humble opinion. He comments that deficit spending began “almost a decade ago”. This sort of statement would seem to be the antithesis of taking responsibility. His plan is to put a freeze on domestic spending for the next five years. Again – is this responsible of him to suggest? After all, he won't be in the office of the president in five years (God willing). So, he is imposing limits on the future as a way of fixing the problems he should be dealing with today. I think President Obama should sit down with Representative Ron Paul, and have a long talk about responsibility, and our Constitution. As a matter of responsibility, how about holding the FED in the harsh light of accountability?
It is peculiar that he also spoke of restructuring the tax code here, while talking about responsibility, rather than putting it into the “reform” step which follows. Perhaps this is a Freudian slip that tells us it isn't going to happen.
Step 5: Reform
The president's comments here were downright scary. He said, in the coming months his administration will “develop a proposal to merge, consolidate, and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America”. I shudder to think of what he might do. Will we be merging the FBI with Homeland Security and the NSA? Without doubt, this is something we are all going to have to keep our eyes on. There have been rules put in place to protect our privacy, and our freedom, as well as to protect against future abuses. Many of these rules have already been thrown the way-side by the PATRIOT act and the creation of the department of Homeland Security. This is a shell game I'm not looking forward to play.
It was important for the President to tell Congress and the Nation that “American Muslims are a part of our American Family”. I'm not sure why that was so important as to make it into the State of the Union Address – but it made it.
The notion of reform is a great one. Few would argue we need reform in Washington D.C. But, what needs to be changed is always a matter of contentious debate. Which, from what I hear, sets us apart as a nation. ;)
God bless us – everyone.
Metajunkie
notes:
contentious: exhibiting an often perverse and wearisome tendency to quarrels and disputes
The 112 th Congress' makeup:
House of Representatives
193 Democrats
242 Republicans
Senate
51 Democrats
47 Republicans
2 Independents
2010 Gross Domestic Product
A sidebar chart in the “enhanced version” illustrated that America still has the largest, most profitable economy in the world when you compare GDP.
US $14.6 Trillion
China $5.7 Trillion
Japan $5.3 Trillion
Germany $3.3 Trillion
France $2.5 Trillion
