Updated State of the Union prediction

Once again the president of the United States will make the annual trip January 25 to Capitol Hill to deliver the State of the Union Address.

George Washington and John Adams delivered their speeches in person, but Thomas Jefferson began a short-lived tradition of submitting a written speech. This continued until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson decided to give his speech in person. Situations have varied, but the tradition of providing the nation with an update of the status of the economy and new laws while providing plans for future progress remains.

Some topics President Barack Obama may talk about in his State of the Union Address are ways to work with the Republicans in congress to create new legislation to stimulate job growth. Working with the Republicans to develop an overall sense of unity will probably be a major theme of the speech.

Other topics may concern the government’s progress improving the economy and strategies to ultimately lower the national debt. Health care reform, bringing soldiers home from the war in Iraq and education will most likely be topics of concern as well.

These issues would not be new concerns for former presidents. Obama can be compared to presidents such as John F. Kennedy. Franklin D. Roosevelt or Lyndon B. Johnson for different reasons.

Obama and Kennedy have age, religion and large voter turnouts in common. Obama’s religion was under intense scrutiny when he was running for president. In light of the 9/11 attacks and following rumors of being Muslim, he had much to prove to the American people. The topic was brought up again when the reverend at the church Obama attended made controversial statements.

Kennedy was the nation’s first catholic president. In an address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, he said, “For contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic.” His point was to get the public to see him for what he could do for the country, not to misinterpret his personal beliefs. Obama took a similar approach.

Both had two of the largest voter turnouts in history, with about 64.8 percent of eligible voters in the 2008 election and 67 percent in 1960.

When Roosevelt entered office, the economic state of the nation was not in great shape, similar to Obama’s situation. Both entered presidency aiming to diminish a recession. Roosevelt’s New Deal and some of Obama’s proposed legislations, while controversial, made a dent in their economic crises.

Johnson’s first role was to provide reassurance to a distressed nation. Obama used a similar position when first speaking as president. He attempted to reassure the nation that the economy and the situation in Afghanistan would one day stabilize.

There are a number of other presidents who can be compared to Obama in a number of different ways, depending on perspective. The facts remain that his presidential career has proved successful so far. Last year, he mentioned job creation, clean energy, exporting more goods, education, middle-class issues, health care reform, immigration and, of course, deficit reduction.

In his speech from last year, he said, “Now, because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. Two hundred thousand work in construction and clean energy. Three hundred thousand are teachers and other education workers. Tens of thousands are cops, firefighters, correctional officers, first-responders. And we're on track to add another 1½ million jobs to this total by the end of the year.”

This year will probably include more of the same topics considering most of them cannot be resolved in a year’s time.