Wednesday, January 27, 2010

State of the Union


Though I'm sure people will, I think it would be hard to argue that Obama's address was anything less than excellent. He addressed essentially every major political issue, from creating jobs and regulating banks to making college affordable and reducing our nuclear stock pile. Critics have said that he tried to talk about too many issues, but, of course, they would have attacked him for leaving something out. Another interesting criticism is the fact that he didn't put healthcare first. However, I took that as a sign that he's listening to the American people and adjusting his policy agenda accordingly. He understands that health care reform isn't the biggest issue in the minds of the typical citizen- the economy is. Everything he addressed before health care- apart from education- had to do with the economy. Instead of criticizing this, we should welcome it as a sign that Obama is going to adjust his priorities to more closely match Main Street's.

My favorite proposals:
Job creation through public service employment to improve and green national infrastructure (it's so 1930s)
Passing a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill (which could also facilitate job creation and establish the US as a global leader for environmental sustainability)
Encouraging the decrease of college tuition
Reducing our nuclear stockpile and securing stray nuclear material
Requiring all earmarks to be published (if it's well enforced, I imagine it will drastically decrease them)
Creating a bipartisan fiscal commission (executive orders make for interesting politics)



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