State of the Union Response

This evening, President Obama delivered his first State of the Union speech. The carefully crafted speech lasted for more than an hour and was delivered very eloquently. President Obama outlined his ambitious short-term goals for the year ahead, and described some long-term goals for the remainder of his term as well.
Jobs…Jobs…Jobs…

Thank you Mr. President. After a year of terrible recession and horrific job losses, I am glad to see that tackling the unemployment rate is taking a higher priority this year. Our economy has faced massive job losses; we have more than 10% national unemployment and a vast amount of people who could be considered under-employed. I understand that there are many problems facing our nation, but getting more Americans back to work needs to be at the fore-front of our plans. If the House and Senate could pass a jobs bill that would be signed into law, we could start to offer assistance to small businesses and begin to revitalize our work-force. As much as it pains me to say it, because it will lead to more government interference; if the banks won’t lend to small businesses, then the government must. There is absolutely no reason why the banks shouldn’t be lending. We kept the banks afloat by lending them our hard-earned tax dollars, and now they need to do the same for the American business owner. Small businesses are the backbone of our country and we need to cultivate growth in the small business sector to reduce unemployment and ensure our long-term prosperity. Spending another $30B is not the most ideal scenario when you already have a deficit over trillions, but if it can boost job growth, it must be done. The tax-credits are great incentives for small businesses; especially those which create “jobs today, building the infrastructure of tomorrow.” Investments in our domestic infrastructure are long-term payoffs that create jobs in the short-term. These are the “shovel-ready” jobs that should have been started with the Recovery and Re-investment Act. Some of these projects got under way quickly, but there were not enough of them. We need action now to take control of the unemployment situation. I was glad to hear the President speak about creating more jobs in the clean energy sector. We can put people to work and figure out how to protect our Earth from further deterioration; sounds like a win-win to me.

“The best anti-poverty system is a world-class education”

Yes… Being able to learn, broaden your horizons, and hone your skills is essential to being successful. Education is key to providing people with a way to better there situations. We should invest more into our community colleges. Increasing Pell Grants is a fantastic way to ensure that many more young people will be able to afford to get the education they desire. Learning is not only for the elite. Nobody should ever go broke because they wanted to better themselves. Yes, part of being a college student means being poor, but it should never lead to a lifetime of financial ruin. Setting student loan repayment at 10% of the graduates’ salary is a phenomenal idea. Forgiving student debt after 20 years (10 years if the graduate goes to work in the public sector) is a good concept, but who absorbs that loss after the allotted time expires? Can the government afford to risk these losses? The up and coming generation of students are the life blood of our country; we need to ensure that enough people come up the ranks to replace the older generations as they move up and out of our work force. Investing in our students will benefit the country as a whole in the log-run.

Health insurance reform might be going on the back-burner for a little bit, but should not be forgotten. The right to have quality health coverage is universal, and all citizen’s should be afforded that right regardless of their financial background or economic status.

It is imperative that we wrap up the wars that we are engaged in. The Iraqi government is taking more control over their recovery and re-building and soon we will withdraw all of our troops from Iraq. Hopefully the troop surge in Afghanistan will work quickly and provide the Afghan forces with enough training to take over so we can draw down our American military presence in their country as well. Once we get Iraq and Afghanistan on their own feet, we can focus all of our energy and resources on rebuilding our country and taking better care of our citizens.

Out and Proud…

Speaking of the United Stated military… The President formally asked Congress to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It is about time. There is no reason why our brave gay men and women cannot serve their country openly in the United States military. We have lost so many valuable service personnel because of this policy. We have lost countless Arabic translators, which could be instrumental in wrapping up the wars in the Middle East. We should have the utmost respect for our brave men and women who defend our freedom, ensure our liberty, and uphold our ideals; regardless of their sexual orientation. This would be a big step for the LGBT community and would be a welcome change is discriminatory policy.

Fiscal Conservancy and a Budget

Finally, the President acknowledged that he understands we need to cut back on expenses. President Obama stated that we needed to spend more to get out of the recession and prevent a complete collapse of our banking system, and now that the markets have stabilized, we can begin to rein in our spending. Freezing government discretionary spending for three years beginning in 2011 is a great idea. This will give us the opportunity to create a budget and live within our means as a nation. We can shrink our sky-rocketing deficit and create more confidence within our domestic industries. We will finally be able to save some money and begin to repay China. Reducing our national debt will mean that we can have a smaller government, which can interfere less in the lives of our American citizens. Americans all over our great nation are doing more with less and tightening their belts; our government needs to do the same. The government needs to start living by the same sacrifices they are asking us to make.

We can achieve these goals. I deeply admire the President’s willingness to take on these problems head-on. The time for talk; however, is over. We need action and this administration needs to take the proper steps to begin the process of recovery. Our legislators will have to get past the Partisan Politics as Usual mentality and get down to work on compromises that are in the best interests of their constituents. We elected these leaders to their positions so they could serve the best interests of our citizens. If our elected leaders continue to fail, we must vote them out of office and put our collective foot down. Regardless of party affiliation, we do not need career politicians looking out for their own interests and for those of lobbyists; we need leaders who can look out for us, leaders who pay attention to the issues facing everyday Americans. The call for bipartisanship has been made and needs to be accepted if we are to progress any further.

Like the President mentioned in his address, we do not need to uphold Republican values or Democratic values; we need to uphold our American Values.