State of the Union Response

This past week, President Barack Obama completed his constitutional obligation to, "from time to time, give information to Congress" in his State of the Union address. Before delving into the actual content of the speech, I need to note that Barack Obama is perhaps the best speaker that I have ever seen; his eloquence, tone, body language, and presence all contribute to a rousing speech every time he takes the mic. Now, the content.

The president' s comments on education were encouraging to me. His student loan proposals, that they would eventually be dropped after a period of 20 years at latest, was phenomenal news to a student going to college in a year and a half. His new initiative, to provide incentive for good schools and good teachers, is a step in the right direction.

The proposal of a budget and pay freeze for the federal government, with a few exceptions, was equally encouraging. If the rest of the nation has to tighten its belt, the government should as well.

The president's message of transparency in government was sound and well founded. The proposal to include all earmarks in one accessible location is a necessary step; whether it is used by the public or not is irrelevant, it needs to be available.

Perhaps my favorite part of the speech was the President's message on bipartisanship. His message that "if the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well." He sent his message, that the Republicans cannot just "say no" anymore, in a clear and "friendly" manner. His message of bipartisanship was truly genuine, I felt; hopefully it is accepted.

Those were, for me, the highlights of the speech. I applaud the job creation plan that he proposed, building a new infrastructure, I applaud the small-business help plan that was proposed, and I applaud his defense of the health care reform proposal. We can only hope that Congress heeds the President's call and does their best to make this country a better place to live.