President Barack Obama said Tuesday in his State of the Union Address that the challenges America faces are “bigger than party and bigger than politics.”
The president stressed a need for bipartisanship in order to strengthen what he said are three key steps in securing the nation’s future: innovation, education and improving America’s infrastructure.
Members of congress broke tradition and sat together during the address and, as predicted, Obama said that continuing this bipartisanship beyond the speech is what will encourage productive changes within the nation.
“What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow,” Obama said.
Though it was predicted he would talk about the economy, Obama tied everything together promoting that encouraging innovation will stimulate job growth. He emphasized the importance of renewable and clean energy methods, believing this will create many new opportunities for jobs.
The innovation of this new technology will be stimulated through improving the inevitable topic of education. It was not anticipated, however, that it would be such a large part of his speech. Obama gave much credit to the teaching profession and encouraged others to do the same or even to join the teaching career path.
Unexpectedly, at the end of his education segment, he included a word about students who are studying abroad in America, and that sending them home after obtaining advanced degrees “to compete against us” does not make sense.
“And let’s stop expelling talented, responsible young people who could be staffing out research labs or starting a new business, who could be further enriching this nation,” Obama said.
This led the president to his third key concept: rebuilding America’s infrastructure. As anticipated, he suggested ideas to improve the economy and reduce the deficit. He promised that within 25 years most Americans would be proved access to high-speed rail systems. This again ties in with his promotion of cleaner modes of transportation and energy because it would encourage less driving.
Next, Obama set a goal of doubling America’s exports by 2014 and, starting this year, annual domestic spending will be frozen for the next five years. He said this will reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion in the next decade.
Obama raised the topic of improved communication and less wasteful technology. He said he would like to see the American people regain faith in the government through providing tax dollar spending information online to everyone. It will be interesting to see these changes and if privacy laws become an issue.
“Because you deserve to know when your elected officials are meeting with lobbyists, I ask Congress to do what the White House has already done - put that information online,” Obama said.
Going back to his original concept of bipartisanship, he suggested the ideas he mentioned will function better if the parties work together.
“Not is the time for both sides and both houses of Congress – Democrats and Republicans – to forge a principled compromise that gets the job done. If we make the hard choices now to rein in our deficits, we can make the investments we need to win the future,” Obama said.
Overall, Obama touched upon most of the anticipated topics but expanded upon even more. His plans to stimulate innovation and job growth stem from education and it was refreshing to hear that he thinks the encouraged bipartisan mentalities would improve all of these topics.
“We shouldn't just give our people a government that's more affordable. We should give them a government that's more competent and more efficient. We can't win the future with a government of the past,” Obama said.
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