COLUMN: Obama's State of the Union had some good thought but lacks solid plan
President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech saw little focus on foreign policy issues, with Obama highlighting achievements in the Middle East, as well as issuing a warning to our adversaries.
He also threw in the yearly section on clean and renewable energy, and while there is nothing wrong with that, he failed to give clear examples on how we will achieve his goals. Having 80% of Americans’ electricity come from clean energy sources by 2035 is a great goal, but how will we get there?
Like last year, he emphasized that education starts in the home, and that parents need to instill a sense of responsibility in children. Parents not only need to ensure their children keep up in their studies, but also “teach [them] that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.”
The other half of education is the school side. One of the best things Obama has done since assuming office was implement the Race to the Top program, a program that saw 40 Democratic and Republican governors implement higher standards for teaching and learning in their states.
Race to the Top ended the failed era of No Child Left Behind and started the process of getting our education system back on track.
He discussed jobs, saying, “At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country, or somewhere else,” and went on to describe the actions taken to improve the economy, such as extending the Bush tax cuts and unemployment benefits.
He announced a plan to examine current regulations, so that useless regulations that harm businesses can be repealed, while leaving in place regulations that ensure the protection of consumers; however, he failed to say what further actions he would like to take to improve the economy.
He did, however, go into details about how he plans on reducing the deficit, such as a freeze on annual domestic spending for the next five years, a move that he claims will reduce the deficit by over $400 billion. This freeze will stretch from salaries of federal employees to wasteful spending on extraneous defense projects.
Obama also announced that he is open to the Republicans’ idea of reforming medical malpractice laws, so that the number of frivolous lawsuits is reduced.
While these are steps in the right direction, they are only a small part of reducing the deficit, and with the President announcing plans to increase spending on infrastructure, Congress is going to need to find more areas to cut spending or raise revenue.
While the speech had some good ideas as well as bad, it was lacking a plan to get the economy back on track, and until we do that, all other issues become irrelevant. Without a strong economy, we cannot function as a country.
The President’s focus must be on reducing the deficit and getting the economy back on track, so that we can get Americans back to work.
