This week, President Obama will be giving his first State of the Union Address (hence the picture of the last State of the Union Address having a picture of President Bush in it!). The State of the Union Address is the best chance for the President to address the nation about the his agenda for the forthcoming year. Wtih the ailing economy, stalled out health care reform and this being President Obama's first State of the Union speech, it promises to be a both interesting and important speech in President Obama's career.
Here are some fun facts about various State of the Union Addresses throughout the years.
Your assignment this week is to watch the speech sometime before Thursday night, and post a 150 word post on your thoughts on the speech including whether you think his ideas were right or wrong. Then before Sunday night, respond to one of your classmates comments either agreeing or disagreeing with what they said. This post will also be about 150 words.
Link to both video and audio files (for podcasting, right click save the MP3 file to your iTunes):
Thank you to all those who posted in real time tonight throughout his speech.
First post: 150+ words due Thurs @ Midnight
Second post: 150+ words due Sunday @ 12pm.
Posts
I am impressed with the way he adds humor to his speech while still getting his points across, also the change in tone in voice to grab the attention and best response possible. I find this good for him, becuase he seems to state it how it is, and humor just seems to prevent many from getting angry.
ReplyDeleteI also think his proposal to tax the biggest banks more is smart, because as Obama said it, "If the tax payers bailed them out in the first place, they can give back to the payers."
Its interesting how there are always some who stand, some who simply clap, and some who stand and clap, you can litterally see who supports what he just said and who doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI love Obama bringing in the normal people, how he reads their letters at night and references them in his speech. He talks about how some write him with sucess stories and some that don't, therefore he wants jobs to be the number 1 focus of 2010 and thats why he is proposing a new jobs bill tonight. That is smart and perfectly said, people can not live happily without jobs to have money to put food on the table.
“I said I wouldn't do what was popular, I'll do what is necessary” If the people of the United States elected him to represent them, then shouldn't he do what they want? Not what HE thinks is right?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me like Obama is trying too hard to make everyone in our society equal. By taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor, we are becoming more like a communist society in which the government tries to equalize everyone. He says that he will tax large businesses and give money to small businesses so that they can “buy new equipment”. I disagree that this is the best solution because sometimes the larger buisnesses are more productive and therefore why should we spend more money on businesses that are not the most successful?
I think one of Obama's ideas that might actually work, is to encourage companies to hire more people from the United States than from other countries. However, I am un-clear how he plans to do this, maybe someone can explain? Also, another thing to consider is that sometimes people from outside the country are better at what they do, OR we can hire them for much cheaper. So wouldn't I don't understand why a company would hire someone from the United States when they can hire someone for much less (during tough economic times, this is important to companies).
I am currently watching the State of the Union Address. Earlier in class we talked about how the actual address is scripted (the congressmen have certain points where they clap). It was funny to watch because in the beginning of the address Biden accidentally almost started to clap when no one else did. After a couple seconds the rest of congressmen started to clap and Biden knew he made a silly mistake with a huge grin on his face. Obama just said that he was proposing a new jobs bill tonight! Obama plans to take 30 billion dollars that the Wall Street banks repaid and give them to the smaller banks that will therefore give credit to smaller businesses allowing them to flourish. Apparently, some of the jobs bill has already passed through the House, but not the Senate yet. It seems as if Obama has many ideas on how to recover the broken economy so far.... hopefully it works and the United States of America can get back on its feet.
ReplyDeleteI am watching the State of the Union right now. I remember us talking about how all of the clapping is scripted, and I keep anticipating when they’re going to clap. I do believe that Obama is making some phenomenal plans right now, and I am positive that he is going to get America back on its feet. I liked it a lot when he said that jobs are going to be the number one focus in 2010 in America. That is definitely how it should be, because job losses keep getting worse every day. The new job bill will help out a lot. I also liked how he said that we should be giving families rebates that make their houses greener and more energy efficient. Because saving our Earth is also another big topic that has us on edge. I thought it was really sad in the beginning when he said that when he reads letters sent to him every night the hardest ones to read were the ones written by children whose families are stricken by job losses, and house evictions. Obama is doing a fine job tonight, and I am sure his plans will all work out the way he’s intending them to.
ReplyDeleteObama is talking about his "race to the top" program now. I understand that education is very important, but I don't think it is the most important thing to be spending government money on! Also, Obama doesn't want students who chose to go to college to be in debt, and he is talking about all kinds of tax credits and reductions in the amount of money they will need to pay. I don't want our country to turn into a country where everyone is getting government aid! All of these ideas sound good now but where is he getting all of this money from anyways?!?! We are already in debt as a country and I don't see how he can possibly promise these things to us..
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain Obama's plan to stop government spending for 3 years? What does he plan to stop spending money on?? Because I didn't hear him say that education would still be funded for those years, but I thought he just said that education was so important and it sounded like he was planning to spend MORE money on education related programs. How can he throw all that money into schools now, and then stop in 2011?
ReplyDeleteObama explained that the nation he was given last year was one with a suffering economy, job loss, and more debt. Throughout his first year, not much has been changed. He needs to create a lot more change in 2010. However, his State of Union Address showed a step in the right direction. Obama talked much about the bank bailouts. I do agree with the bailout of these banks even though they were irresponsible. The reality is that we need these banks to be successful to create a better economy and more jobs. I like that these banks are not going completely unpunished. The bonus that the banks are giving employees is being taxed and the money is going to smaller banks. The big banks are learning to be more responsible and are being used to help smaller banks that then lead to new business. I liked the focus on the environment and clean energy. I just hope that we can afford his promises of incentives for companies that practice clean energy. His freeze of spending on homeland security, medicare, and medicaid is very risky. I do like the idea of reducing the spending as long as the economy is in the right shape to do so. Healthcare needs to be worked out immediately. The uninsured need to be insured and the cost needs to be decreased. I hope healthcare can come to a much needed resolution in 2010. These problems will never be fixed if we are not united. Instead of not clapping for certain ideas just because its not the party you represent, both parties need to come together and benefit the people of the United States.
ReplyDeleteHannah, we'll talk about the plan to freeze spending tomorrow...its an interesting yet risky plan.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the clapping was planned, I don't think the laughter at some of his plans was not!
ReplyDeleteAndrew, yes he is a good public speaker...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Obama on the fact that we do need an education reform, however I completely disagree with how he plans to do that. He plans to reward the schools that succeed but he must not realize the fact that most of the schools that do fail are the city public schools which have the biggest population or schools with little funding. So how does rewarding few schools and leaving the majority with little equipment, funds and poor education. If anything the schools that are struggling should be the ones that the government helps because those are the people that are preventing this country to "get ahead". The quality schools will keep getting better textbooks and other incentives while the bad gets worse and worse. Also,Obama plans to reward these schools by the result of the students test taking abilities. Unfortunately the times have changed and not every student gives 100% of their effort on tests like those. One of the parts that I do agree with Obama on is how a student only has to pay back 10% of his pay check when he graduates towards his student loan.
ReplyDeleteOk yes Obama stared out with the political fluff like unity and personalized stories that is impossible to argue with and relatively meaningless. And yes he reflected popular opinions about the bank bailout, tax cuts ( also known as , its like catnip for republicans), and the bank tax for political motives but this was only the beginning. He called for school improvements and increased funding in research for green technologies much like that in the EU. He also called for government incentives to support renewable energy like those that made Germany the solar capital of the world despite being as sunny as Seattle. He also called for the construction of a new generation of nuclear plants (YAY a democrat with balls) though no politician has balls like Hilary Clinton. He also indirectly announced a return to protectionism (one that should have happened when the Chinese did it 15 years ago). He also announced a 10,000$ colledge tax credit. Finally he did address healthcare and announced a little peace of common since called preventive care.
ReplyDeletegood point Nick. That is one of the biggest criticism of his "Race to the Top" plan...Obama's answer is that those failing schools should be shut down and send those kids to better performing charter schools...it is definitely controversial.
ReplyDeleteOk, easy there Ken. Lets analyze what he said and not take pot shots at politicians (like Hillary). Keep it clean.
ReplyDeleteI just finished watching Obama's State of Union. I agree with most things that Obama is saying. I agree that if Wall Street is rewarded for hard work, so should Main Street. I think that Obama proposing $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat, is a great idea. Small businesses need all the help they can get. He also proposed a new small businesses tax credit, so that over one million small businesses can hire new workers or raise wages. This proposition if he follows through will help the declining economy, which is needed greatly. He eliminated all capital gains taxes on small businesses investments and provides a tax incentive for all businesses to invest in new plants and equipment. Obama’s has a good idea to increase businesses to hopefully help the economy and low unemployment rates. I liked the tax cut for 8 million Americans paying for college, since we are all entering college soon. He also didn’t increase income taxes which was nice too.
ReplyDeleteObama’s focus towards the middle class was truly a breath of fresh air. His very Clintonesque tax cuts will be helping smaller businesses continue to drive the market. I am also pleased with the 30 billion from banks payments being given to local banks for loaning to small businesses. And how impressive is the plan for a new generation of nuclear power plants? So many politicians are too worried about the bad name it brings with it, but switching to nuclear is the smartest plan for this country. The Comprehensive Clean Energy Bill was no shocker, but definitely a plus for the energy transformation. The National Export Initiative for farmers and businesses seems like a good idea, but Obama was pretty vague in the explanation; I’m skeptical to see what these incentives are, and where the money for them will be coming from. His points on education were really impressive, as well. Revitalizing Community Colleges and expanding reforms to all 50 states is great, but the best part was the ten grand in tax credit for students going to four year colleges. Also, only having to pay 10% of my income for tuition payments is a definite positive. Barrack claims he’s going to bring down the deficit by 1 Trillion dollars in 2 decades, as well as remove all troops by the end of his candidacy. I feel like those are some pretty lofty goals, but if he meets them, he will go down as one of the best president’s this nation has ever known. Obama literally called out the Supreme Court to their faces, saying what they said two weeks ago about “unlimited spending” is ridiculous. Therefore, my final statement is this: he has heard your call Parker Brown; Obama is taking away the influence of the lobbyists.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the State of the Union what I liked best about our president Obama was that he was honest and brought out the people in his speech. When he talked about how he reads letter that people send and how all the struggles that people are going through and the most shocking was the kids allowance he received to send to Haiti. Another thing that I liked was how he talked about the Recovery Act and how it has helped many people get their jobs back or not be laid of like that teacher that wasn’t laid of work because of the RA. He also talked about doubling exports that would support 2 million jobs in America. When he talked about education though it though that he didn’t really specify what his plans were. The only thing I got was that the colleges should cut costs to make it more affordable. Something I found very amusing during this union was how people would never let him finish and clap and he would sometimes tell them to stop and let him finish with his hands. I think that something that he did that was very smart was used his humor to try and make things that maybe some people didn’t like not find as horrible and not get angry. For me that most important thing he said was that he “change was not easy and he could not do it alone.” Because I feel that statement is so true that not one person can really bring change but everyone united came be huge.
ReplyDeleteThere were many thing that I agreed with during Obama's State of the Union Address. Some of those things were giving bigger taxes to bigger banks. They shouldn't be using extra money to give the bankers big bonuses. They should be saving that money to help out our economy. I also agree with the creation of a jobs bill. We need to have more jobs available to the American citizens. Way to many people are unemployed right now and need to get jobs to help out their families and also our economy. I also agreed with giving more focus on going green. We need to make sure that not only is our economy stable for future generations, but we need to make sure that our Earth is going to be fine for future generations. I agree with Obama saying that education needs to be a big focus for everyone. With that, I strongly agree with making colleges more affordable. People should not have to suffer with great amounts of debt because they want to get a degree and better education. What Obama said, I completely stand by: “No one should go broke for deciding to go to college to get an education”. With some of that last few points that he made, I agree with allowing gay Americans the ability to serve on the military, giving women equal pay, and I STRONGLY agree with making a better immigration system and having a stronger border control.
ReplyDeleteA few things that I did not agree with was, of course the healthcare bill. I can see why it is important but I think that it will in the end cause more harm than good. Give it to those that REALLY need the help and that's it. Also, I think that we do need to start withdrawing from the war, but I don't think that we should be doing that this soon. I think that we still have much more to do in Iraq and Afghanistan to make sure that they are stable and making sure that they do not propose great threats towards the US.
oh yea, i also saw like 5 people on their phones (texting?)while obama was talking which i found pretty funny. and that clapping was so annoying on how scripted it was!! but there were a few times where people clapped/stood at the wrongs times and looked like idiots =)
For the most part I liked Obama’s address, but the point was pretty much for him to make a populist speech. I find it interesting that Obama would admit to hating the bank bailouts like everybody else. I don’t know if he was really telling the truth about that or if he was just trying to gain some political points by justifying the bailout by indirectly deeming it necessary here. A big I hate about these speeches is all the applause. It makes it move so unbelievably slow it drives me crazy. Back to the speech itself, I agree with Josh D. in that the tax breaks for the middle class will be a huge advantage. Most of the nation is middle class including my family, and my own family probably will be one day so it’s nice to finally here something that will help me out. One more unrelated comment; I found Obama’s jokes to be legitimately funny I wonder if he’s the first president to crack a few jokes. Also, I used to be for Obama’s education reform even though I don’t know that much about it, but Nick brought up a really good point about how the school’s failing are the ones needing the most help. Although I will admit to being an Obama supporter, an issue I’ve always had with him, which is apparent in this speech, is that he always talks about what he is going to do but never how he plans on doing this. An example from tonight would be his emphasis on how we are going back to using common sense. He never said what this meant or how or what he was planning to change.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLooks like another soup kitchen speech for our so-called President. That’s just what we need in this recession is 75 minutes of handouts to unworthy people. Why should my hard earned money go to failing schools? Why should my hard earned money go to people who weren’t smart enough to get health insurance? Seeing Barack Obama up on the podium reminds me of the rallies back in the 30’s. Watching him call out the Supreme Court, some of the only people still defending Capitalism in Washington, is despicable. I wish Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have charged the podium and demanded a birth certificate from Barack Hussein Obama. It’s high time people stop eating up the Fascist ramblings from this man and start to protect their freedom. What happened to the America I had as a kid? Barack wants to take away our freedoms. It’s time we stop worrying about government handouts and start worrying about closing our borders and getting real Americans back into the government.
ReplyDeleteParker I know of an absolutly brilliant man who shares your ideals!!! Here is a link to his brilliance (?)... http://www.youtube.com/user/GlennBeckChannel
ReplyDeleteYouTube is just another left wing biased liberal media channel. Glenn Beck is one of the only true Americans trying to defend our country from Fascism.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with almost everything Obama had to say. Change is what we need and change is what he is proposing. We do need more companies that work in America, and this needs to be worked on. Colleges are really expensive and arnt affordable, this is why people go into debt after they go to it or even while they are in college they are in debt. Like Obama said "No one should go broke because they go to college", college is a necessity, a necessity that most everybody must do to get anywhere in life nowadays. But as Obama also said, the government cannot totally fix this issue on there own, that colleges really need to fix it themselves and reduce prices on college tuition. As for Health Care, something has to be done, people are dieing who have insurance but are getting denyed payment. People are being refused insurance and die because they cannot afford to pay for the care. Maybe Obamas plan isnt the best way to solve this issue but it is definitly a start. The government really needs to pick it up now, the countries debt is only becoming greater and greater and it cannot be passed off any longer. It has to start getting dealt with now.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the State of the Union address last night, I saw some major reforms that President Obama has planned to change. On talking about the economy he explains that “the worst of the storm has passed but the devastation remains.” I think that our economy right now has seen the worst of its plunge towards a recession. But the Recovery Act I believe is not the way to fix our failing economy. Even though the Recovery Act has put people into more jobs, and has caused people not to lose their jobs, I believe that it is not a solution to getting out of our eight trillion dollars in debt. He also proposed a new jobs bill last night that would take 30 billion dollars from Wall Street Banks, and put it into small businesses, so they can “stay afloat.” I believe this is a good plan for our economy, to help small businesses remain open, and keep more jobs open for the middle class people. But again, how will we get out of debt? There also was the change in College funding, a proposed cleaner and safer Energy Bill, The Health Insurance Reform, Exporting more goods, and finally by 2011, a freeze in government spending for unnecessary contribution. All these factors he plans to change and make better in the near future, to give our economy a boost and to get back up on our feet. I think that if Obama goes through with what he has said during this speech, he could become one of the greatest Presidents to ever to be in Office.
ReplyDeleteI believe President Obama’s State of the Union address can be viewed in two ways: as the first real step in his presidency towards fulfilling the promises made during his campaign of change in America or simply as more empty words and promises. Actions speak louder than words and President Obama proposed many new ideas and bills ideas that if passed could ultimately make or break how people percieve the success of the remainder of his presidency. Many of President Obamas ideas, I thought, were good ones that have a chance at truly changing this nation for the better but once again they were very vague and good ideas are just that if no action is taken. The proposal of a new job bill is something everyone can agree will greatly help this nation move towards breaking out of this recession, however, the proposed idea of doubling our exports in the next 2 years is something I’m very interested the process of how this will be achieved. Although we can agree the state of our nation was already in a crisis before President Obama came to office, I felt he took too many shots at the former administration and also towards the Republicans. We as a citizens want to see a government who doesn’t blame others for current problems and bickers between one another, but rather one that is unified and shows a movement towards improvement and change for our the good of our country. Overall I believe President’s Obama speech encompused these ideas and I for one am very interested in seeing how this next year of his presidency turns out.
ReplyDeleteIn President Obama’s State of the Union address he touches on the facts of colleges and working together to help get this government get back on its feet to move forward to the future. Obama said that colleges need to cut cost of tuition so that the people who want to go to college don’t go broke trying to make a better life for themselves. Student loans can be forgiven after 10 years if they choose a job in public relations or 20 years for any other job. I feel that that is a good idea but if the loans are forgiven where is the money to pay for the college going to come from? Also Obama said that, Democrats and Republicans need to work together to make the government better and stop the petty arguments from getting things done to help the American people. That saying no to every problem might be good politics but it is not leadership. I feel that was a good statement to push Congress in making decisions to help propel the government to get things done.
ReplyDeleteThis is my Response to Parker Brown’s misguided response regarding as he said the “soup kitchen speech”. First of all funding education is not a government handout but a long needed investment if the American workforce is to compete with international competition for jobs. And rewarding schools for innovative improvements could prove to be an effective way to foster change compared to traditional methods. As far as healthcare is concerned I have a lot of compassion for the honest individuals who have fallen victim to our parasitic and archaic system. Yes some individuals have made poor choices but many others have suffered due to a conflict between society’s need for health and the corporate desire for profits. Obama wants to make preventative care part of all insurance plans and this will benefit the nation. If I disagree with Obama at all it is that I think he didn’t go far enough for it’s the government’s job to intervene when social benefits are at odds with the natural market.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, what the right calls socialism is often actually smart regulations like those in the EU. The natural market is not necessarily the fair and the free market it is promised to be. And Obama is not a fascist, if anything he would be more like a hippy with is talk of peace and unity and ever that’s a stretch.
Just a friendly reminder that it is ok provide a counter argument to an idea, it is not ok to belittle the idea, or the person presenting it. We haven't crossed that line yet, but we have come close. Please play nice in the sandbox.
ReplyDeleteObama said many things and many things he said in his speech was vague to make everyone happy but sometimes him just go out and bashed a group of people, mostly the republicans. But he did made a few strict guidelines on what he is going to do, like the war in Iraq. He said he will have the war end by August. I think we should get out of Iraq as soon as possible. The reason we are in Iraq seems to change over and over. First it was to find the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” then after we didn’t find any weapons we were trying to establishing Democracy in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. But when Democracy didn’t take hold the Bush administration said that they want to restoring security in Iraq. I don’t know much about the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq but I think, for once, I do agree with Obama’s thoughts on ending the Iraq war by August. But I’m still not sure about the Afghanistan war yet.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most important things to take away from Obama’s speech is his goal of unifying congress and the nation in the hope for positive change and a brighter future. President Obama presents some interesting ideas, especially on green and clean energy, but he fails to mention how a nation in debt will plan to pay for all of this change. I particularly like his emphasis on bringing job opportunities back to unemployed Americans. Hopefully this goal will be achieved as both sides of the room stood and clapped. I also thought it was nice to hear that Obama plans to follow through on his campaign slogan, but he also made a good point in saying that change could not be done alone. His honesty was refreshing after all of the shady politicians we have had to deal with recently. Overall I thought the speech was one that showed true leadership, a quality that has been a little lacking until this point.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Obama did a particularly good job with his address. He obviously covered all of the big issues, but most importantly tried to clear up his new health care plan proposal. I also liked how he said that our countries number one priority should be jobs, because our unemployment rate is through the roof right now. He said he wants the United Sates to double its amount of exports in the next 5 years, thus creating more jobs for millions of Americans. Another topic he spoke about for a while was education. According to Obama, the number one anti-poverty action is a world class education. I somewhat agree, but not everyone has an equal shot at getting that “world class” education. A statement that generated a lot of applause, planned or not, was his promise to have all troops out of Irag by this upcoming August. I guess now it just comes down to whether or not he will follow up on everything he said last night.
ReplyDeleteThis is my responds to 1st.e.dawe@gmail.com, I agree with the statement that the cost of Student loans will be forgiven after 10 years if they are in a job in public relations or 20 years for any other job is a good idea and also questions on where the money of the loans are coming from. Because if we are in a huge amount of debt already and Obama is trying to get us out of it, I don’t think having the government paying for the loans that were not fully paid off will work. I think that will just add to the debt to our nation in 10-20 years later when Obama is out of office and some other president is force to pay off the nation student loans debt. It’s a good start to the idea but I think there might be a better way to help us get out of debt and help kids pay off their student loans.
ReplyDeleteWith the state that the nation is in right now, it is difficult for the government to regain the trust of the people. Obama has the right idea on focusing on what the people need right now, especially in this recession. He openly admitted the flaws of the government, including the increase in the national debt and provided solutions; to decrease government spending. He knows that the economy needs more focus and hopefully we can get back on the right track. I was also happy to hear that Obama wants to increase job opportunities. He is planning on doing so by having the nation become more energy efficient, and hopefully in addition saving the people money. Another good point I thought Obama brought up was the tax credits for students and their families. Obama knows that having a degree is necessary to get a good job, and he wants to make it more affordable to the middle class citizens. Obama has some good ideas; he just needs to be able to connect with the people in order to regain that trust that is apparently lacking.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is a response to hthei3: Though many will say that Obama’s ideals are very reminiscent of socialism, to categorize his entire presidency behind one policy, healthcare, is like categorizing a student as unintelligent for one bad test score. The fact is the president believes that all citizens deserve the right to medical treatment. Yes, that puts everyone on the same playing field, but it is simply a matter of beliefs; is it socialist to say that every citizen deserves his/her personal rights and freedoms? Also, Obama is clearly moving away from this “socialistic” image with the “Race to the Top” which is driving competition across the nation for improved schooling: if he wanted everyone to be equal, why would he support some schools pulling past others in hopes of improving their educational facilities and methods? And as for the tax cuts on small business, being a child growing up under the roof of a small business, it is comments like those referring to “only the strong survive” which only makes me think of how awful our market would be without the ma & pa shops across the nation. If we were to simply not “spend more money on businesses that are not the most successful”, then all we would have left are the major corporations monopolizing their industries, leading to overpricing and under-production of their products. Small businesses are what keep the market competitive, and it is the government’s job to help keep major corporations in check by assisting the growth and prosperity of such businesses.
ReplyDeleteObama had many problems and hesitant people to address last night, one the greatest being the economy which is in shambles presently. After his speech yesterday, his popularity within the middle class must have increased, as many of the new programs will directly benefit them. The tax cuts which he is offering, will allow people to increase spending and thus stimulate the economy. Going along with this idea, is the change in energy sources, by going nuclear we not only help the environment but also slightly decrease unemployment. I say slightly because the Clean Energy bill will cause jobs within the coal industry to disappear (as well as in areas of our energy sources which would then become obsolete).
ReplyDeleteI felt that the issue of education was handled very well. By giving the Ten Thousand dollar tax credit, making people pay only ten percent of their salary for twenty year if they take loans (this is if they go into public service) will greatly reduce the debt. Seeing as this will allow more people to get educations, which in turns allows higher paying jobs, and more taxes that the government can take. However, we will not see theses results till years down the road, after a generation has graduated from college.
Lastly ill say this, the ideas he expressed last night seemed great…. But that was on paper. I am curious to see how they play out and if they succeed or fail like his first stimulus plan.
There were a few things which I was happy about with Obama's speech. First and foremost was his proposition of a new jobs bill. Unemployment in America is a huge issue and it needs to be addressed, and I am glad that it now will be addressed. It is also great that he will be using $30 billion from the wall street banks to help out small businesses in order to do this. The tax credit for small businesses just adds onto this plan and will greatly help to reduce our unemployment rate. I also completely agree with Obama on his push to get our country to use more and more clean energy, including nuclear power plants, solar panels, and passing legislation to give incentives for the use of clean energy. This helps the issue of global warming and, as Obama pointed out, will help to put us on top in the global economy.
ReplyDeleteI am responding to Josh's response to my comment:
ReplyDeleteI think that part of living in America is being able to make the best life that you can for yourself. If the government keeps taking money away from people who work hard for it, I think that eventually we will just have a lot of unmotivated people living on government aid because it is easier than working. Already, there are people who choose to live off the money the government gives them for being unemployed because it takes less effort than REALLY looking for a job, and then working hard at that job. If the government is going to hand them money, why would they want to work? However without that money, I think people would be MUCh more motivated to look for the best job possible because they need the money to survive. I'm not saying that some people don't need the money from the government- because they DO. All I'm saying is that I think that people have started expecting way too much from the government, and it is not their job to make sure everyone is taken care of. Also, I just want to clarify that I understand that small businesses are a very important part of our economy, but I just don't see why big businesses should be taxed more and small ones should be given a break. It doesn't seem fair. I definitely agree that small businesses keep the market competitive, which is why I disagree with Obama's health care proposal. I think that private health care companies keep THAT market competitive.
Obama’s state of the union address was interesting in the sense that motivatedly addressed lots of political problems we have right now in the U.S. While some are more detailed than others, he still makes at least short comments on most of them. I like the fact that he openly admits to the flaws and problems of our national government. He knows what he has done and has NOT done in his past year of leading our country. He re-assures our citizens that despite the hardship he will not give up on facing the challenges. He also addresses the economy’s need to prosper again, by cutting the spending on things we essentially do not need to spend on-just like a family on a budget. It is a relief that he emphasizes on job opportunities and becoming more energy efficient at the same time. Another good proposal was about forgiving student loans after a certain number of years. It is crucial for us students who are planning to go to college and are probably going to be in debt for a long time and with this proposal it gives students the opportunity to go to school without worrying so much about how they are going to pay the loans back when they are done. Obama states a true fact, “No person should be punished for wanting an education”. Though not all his proposals are clearly explained hopefully this year, and the years to come he will gain the trust in our citizens and achieve more in bettering our nation.
ReplyDeleteIn Response to Rapps comment: Whether Obama was for or against the bank bailout frankly doesn’t matter. I agree he probably said it to earn some points within in the minds of the American Citizens, but it was smart of him. As he was about to spend an little over an hour trying to convince the viewers of his new programs and also relieve the frustrations that were built up in the American people.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your disapproval of the new educational reforms, I have to say that this much like the tax cuts will also help stimulate the economy. By not helping the failing schools, Obama creates the competition between schools, causing improvements to be put into place within the educational system. This then in turn, creates more intelligent students who are more likely to move on to college. Especially as he will give tax credits to students going to four year colleges, and those who go into public service. How will this help the economy? Well, by giving a broader amount of people a chance at a college education, Obama is able to churn out more educated beings into the marketplace. With educations people make more money, and the gross income of people will then be taxed at thirty something percent. In this way, the government will take in more in taxes which will help stimulate the economy and bring down the debt, as well as, creating a smarter nation that can compete will countries like China. The only problem with all of this is that the American people wont be seeing a result for a few more years, and I don’t if they are willing to wait that long.
This is a response to Raymond Mika’s comment. I agree with you on what Obama said about change. I also liked when Obama mentioned the college issue, which is obviously a big concern for a lot of parents right now who have a kid or multiple kids going into college. As far as the colleges needing to step up and take some responsibility to lower their tuition costs, no way is that going to happen. They need some way to make their money, and they do not care if you are in debit going into college, or if you are GOING to be in debt later on. All they care about is getting their money, and I do believe people will pay for it, which obviously they do, because you do need a good education to get anywhere in life. I also think as far as the new Healthcare plan, it will definitely kick start the process of getting healthcare for everyone, but something else will have to be done in order to sustain that process then. I believe that Obama did a fine job last night and I am sure he will get this economy back on its feet in due time.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Obama's plan to "freeze" speding for three years is a good one, but I think its expected of him considering he spent more than any president in the first year of the term. Obama has a good plan to create more jobs through exports and the education of our youth. I think his major points are exceptional until his plan for school funding. His idea is to reward success instead rewarding failure. Which means money will go to the schools that apparently already have money and are probably educating theyre kids very well. Lower scoring, inner-city schools will fail even more beacuse of the lack of funding they receive. I just think that this is a complete contradiction to the No Child Left Behind act. As a final point I agree with him ending the war as long as homeland security and airports stay heightened.
ReplyDeleteAlthough President Obama’s state of the union address did sound very promising, there are a few things he said that left me with some reasonable doubt about whether or not he will turn things around in our country. For example he spent a good amount of time in the beginning of his speech explaining the how badly the budget deficit was affected by George Bush and then continued by stating that it has grown a trillion dollars with him but that we need to spend more money. I understand that our economy needs stimulation but that can be achieved over time through devices such as regulation. We don’t need to spend all kinds of money on too many government jobs and programs as long as we regulate the current flaws so that they do not reoccur. We don’t have the money to be relying on loans from other countries that we could potentially not be able to repay. The other side to this is that the private business will rebuild the job market by itself as our economy continues to grow. Having more public jobs in some instances is unnecessary and could potentially drive out private jobs if they already exist in that field. The private jobs would certainly not be able to compete with a public option in many instances. I also believe still that the health care system needs reform, but not as drastically as a public option would affect it. I do however love that Obama acknowledged that things such as offshore drilling and clean energy are important. This could be great for job creation and also the future of our environment in the case of clean energy. Obama also did explain some of the ways that the stimulus money would be used and although I do not like large scale government spending, I do admit that he is at least using the money with good intentions. He has good intentions but they just appear very unrealistic. Only time will tell and all that we can do is wait and see what unfolds.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the needing to export more goods to create jobs and help the economy. I also agree the need for an education reform but I’m not sure that the “race to the top” is going to be the reform that is the best for America. I agree with the tax credit for the four year college students because the families that need that money for everyday life and cant afford as much for college it gives students more ability to go to college. If we have more students with a college education we can have more jobs which in turn will help the economy. All the plans Obama mentioned were in my opinion a way to start stimulating the economy, not directly or instantly but will defiantly help us in the end. I also agree with most of his going green kind of plans because we do need to save the environment because with out it we will not survive that is a fact with out plants there is no air with no air no life simple. I agree that it will help us stay on top as a super power not because of weapons but of being able to keep our citizens healthy with clean air and water.
ReplyDeleteThe main topic was jobs or concern seemed like it was jobs. I did like how Obama said how the democrats must be successor and fight. Not run for the hills, or in other words not run for office anymore because they are nervous, scared, and do not want to stand up and make decisions. I do agree with the fact to restore the middle class as an overview because most of us at grayslake central high school, I think would fall into this category. It is relieving to hear that Obama believes to cut taxes and one of the groups whose taxes will be cut are parents that are trying to help their children. It's encouraging because students fall under this category. Jobs in 2010 is priority, restoring companies will be tough and he says it is a slow process, but believes it will work. Using money to give to small businesses and banks is a risky move, but with the right regulations should be able to work. Patience is essential here because its not an overnight fix, it's going to take time.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think Obama is a great public speaker. I’m pretty excited about all his talk about creating jobs because our country is currently struggling with unemployment. I really think cutting the tax credits, and reducing taxable income will, indeed, stimulate the economy. Obama’s focus on creating jobs, while still advancing in technology may be a problem. With increased technology comes less need for “human” power, but increasing exports will also create more jobs. Doubling the exports in the next five years will be creating two million more jobs in America. Being a second semester senior, and hearing Obama talking about college funding was really uplifting. Trying to make college funding cheaper, easier, and increased student loans will promote a less stressful experience when attempting to pay for schooling. I hope that all his plans can come to the surface, and help towards rebuilding the economy.
ReplyDeleteAt first Obama’s speech seemed promising and full of hope, but we have all heard about the “change” coming to Washington and the country before and I cannot help but wonder if this time it will actually happen.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I found most interesting in his speech was his points about education. First this new education plan that will only reward successful schools does not seem right to me. Obviously these schools have the resources it takes to effectively educate their students, so they really do not need much more help. Instead, the government should help those schools that are failing so all students get an equal chance at an education. Also, his mention of colleges needing to cut their costs to help the middle classes as well as help the economy was a good point. In response to Paula’s comment about colleges who will not lower tuition prices because “they need some way to make their money,” I disagree with this. Yes, college is a business and just like every business needs money to thrive, but many colleges and universities already have more than enough money. For example, Harvard University would be able to pay for every undergraduates’ tuition with only one percent of their endowment, this would still leave plenty of money in the endowment funds, especially since it grows by billions every year. Obviously this is not true for every college in the country, but it is important to point out the colleges are not as poor as they want people to believe, and could easily lower tuition. Obama does not mean colleges should get rid of tuition and give everyone a full ride, just lower costs to make it less of a burden on people since nearly every job requires a college degree now.
It was also refreshing to hear a President who seemed truly concerned with the well-being of the middle class, and it will be interesting to see how all his reforms play out in the next coming years.
On most of the key topics I agree with President Obama’s state of the union speech. His main focus of 2010 is to create jobs and jumpstart the economy back to how it was before the recession started. Obama addressed that he would Slash tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas. I also like Obama’s outlook on investing in our country’s education; $10,000 tax credit for families for four years of college, Only 10% of income to student loans, all student loan debt forgiven after 20 years, after 10 years if they choose a career in public service. I think this would help out a lot of young Americans and would give more people money to spend on other things to get the economy booming again. I also like Obama’s plan on extending middle-class tax cuts which would help many Americans get back up on there feet.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama’s state of the union address sounded as if he would like to cause some change with many of our current policies. With the 10,000 dollar tax credit for four years of college, forgiving college loans after 20 years and 10 for public service workers, and eliminating capital gains for small businesses he is really attempting to target the people rather than the larger corporations. Along with that he wants to freeze unnecessary federal spending three years to free up more government money for tax cuts. He also plans to create more jobs with a new jobs bill soon and make military moves by getting our troops out of Iraq by the end of August. Although all of this would be great for our country, Obama is making a lot of promises that may not even be able to be held up. It is difficult just to impose policies because of how long it can take to pass a bill and to have everything approved. Obama clearly wants change, and it’s a change that we need, but it may be difficult and may never even happen.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Obama when he states that while no one was a fan of the bailout, it was necessary. His new proposal of taking 30 billion from what wall street has already paid back to help small businesses is the same situation. Small businesses are vital to the economy and competition, but it is difficult for them to survive in this economy and his plan to help them out seems like a good idea. Also, the tax reduction for companies that hire is a great way to encourage companies to hire people and decrease unemployment. Another great idea to increase cash flow was the plan to decrease taxes for companies that buy newer equipment, this will help the both the companies that supply and receive the equipment. Like the bank bailout, this small business bailout seems necessary and vital to bring us out of recession and build a stronger economy.
ReplyDeleteWhat Obama said last night was “So tonight, I'm proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat.” All that is doing is giving more money out to the people. That is good in some ways and it also can be bad. Some of the bad way is that if they lend out the money and then the people just default on their loan than we are in the same situation as before. A good way is that people can start taking out loans and the banks can make money off the interest. Obama states that “a time of record deficits, we will not continue tax cuts for oil companies, for investment fund managers, and for those making over $250,000 a year”. Something else that I don’t agree on is that Obama thinks that highest of the middle class families can make 250,000 dollars a year. That is 20,833 dollars a month, and Obama is trying to say that they he is going to give them tax cuts and the healthcare plan. If families are making that much money a month and still cannot afford the basic necessities of life there is something wrong and they needed to cut their spending not to take advantage of the money because what about the families that really need that healthcare plan.
ReplyDeleteAlthough sounding very far-fetched and maybe a little too optimistic, I believe President Obama’s State of the Union address was very promising and quite honestly a relief for the beaten middle class. The president realizes who has been hurt the most by all of this economic and employment crises. That is why I was very impressed with his new jobs bill he promises will create the necessary jobs on top of the 2 million more people they have already helped employ. Like I mentioned before, I believe this speech sounded the most promising to those living in our middle classes. Just to know that people will not have to go broke anymore just because they decided to go to college, is such a relief for most. Some of the other proposed improvement plans such as helping improve community colleges will really help more families send their children to college. And just like himself said in his speech, “I do not accept second place for the United States of America”, he is really digging down to the roots of our problems as a nation. All of these plans always look good on paper and on national TV, but the true test is going to be how fast President Obama will act on his word, and get these things done to help improve our United States of America.
ReplyDeleteI believe that overall President Obama had a very well constructed speech. He addressed all the major issues in which our country is facing, which shows he is not ignoring some issues and focusing on others. Some of his policies I agreed with while others I did not. For example, I did not agree with the way he plans to go about reforming the education system. Rewarding only the schools that succeed is just going to add to the problem of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The problem with the schools that aren’t succeeding has to do with lack of funding for those schools. A lot of the inner city schools that are not succeeding do not have the resources such as computers or even basic textbooks that the other schools that are performing to standard have. In my opinion, those schools need an extra boost so that the kids can be on a somewhat equal playing field compared to the more fortunate schools. The program he is trying to enforce should be put off for a few years until the poor performing schools have better resources. A good point Obama brought up was the tax credits for students and their families. Obama is all for a good education and is aware that having a degree is necessary to get a good job. Making school more affordable with less debt come graduation is a step in the right direction for allowing people a better chance in the job market.
ReplyDeleteObama made a lot of promises in his speech that I believe he follows through on will have a positive impact for our country. Tax credits for ten thousand dollars for federal student loans for all kids who attend college, I believe will help this country. It will allow more people to achieve a higher education and therefore qualify for better jobs in their future. I feel that Obama has high hopes for our country and he feels that they will be achieved by his certain programs. At times his promises and goals seemed unachievable because of the amount of government spending required to achieve them. I also like when Obama said that congress needed to come together to help the United States instead of just going after their own personal ambitions. Obama definitely has some positive ideas and outlook. Only time will tell if he can achieve these ideas and bring our government closer and make our economy stable again.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I was not happy with the 2010 State of the Union Address. Too much of his speech seemed to be showboating for the media and attempts at winning a popularity contest, though admittedly there were some good points. I’m all for bringing new jobs into the market, and I believe this is a good focus; however I don’t know enough about his “New Jobs Plan” yet to agree with his methods. Furthermore, I believe that pushing for new cleaner energy facilities / etc. just to be “the best” or “number one” is too simplistic. If we try to compete with other nations like this, it could come to the point of a technology race, and we might end up doing ourselves more harm than good, or even instigate hostilities. Why can’t we just focus on fixing the problems we have, instead of possibly creating more, only so that we may attempt to the “the greatest country?”
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny how America hides information from its people in order to keep the government out of shame. Obama says how he is going to make new jobs? Yeah for who, not its people. From the looks of it, the only people that got new jobs were the people working for Michelle Obama.
ReplyDeleteNo, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn't perform any official duties, but this hasn't deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. "Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War, and Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary from her husband's salary."
Total Personal staff for other first ladies paid by taxpayers: Jackie Kennedy had one, Roseline Carter had one, Barbara Bush had one, Hilary Clinton had three, Laura Bush had one, and Michelle Obama has twenty-two! Mrs. Obama's personal staff:
1) $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief of Staff)
2) $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President & Director of Policy & Projects for the First Lady)
3) $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary for Mrs. Obama)
4) $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President & Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5) $100,000 - Winter, Melissa (Spec Asst to the President & Deputy Chief Staff to the First Lady)
6) $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief of Staff to the First Lady)
7) $84,000 - Lilyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8) $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9) $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Project for the First Lady)
10) $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11) $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B.(Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12) $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Depty Director of Scheduling & Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13) $60,000 - Fitz, Alan O.(Deputy Director of Advance & Trip Director for the First Lady)
14) $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant & Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15) $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Assoc Director & Deputy Press Sec To The First Lady)
16) $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant Scheduling/Traveling Aide To The First Lady)
17) $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Assoc Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)
18) $43,000 - Tubman, Samanth a (Deputy Assoc Director, Social Office)
19) $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Exec Assistant to the Chief of Staff to the First Lady)
20) $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21) $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22) $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Assoc Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)
Total: $1,591,200 in annual salaries
This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe. There are many more “artists” that Michelle has for example, she has a outfit stylist, shoe stylist, and quite a few more.
There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life at taxpayer expense.
The Canadian Free Press published this because the USA media is too scared that they might be considered racist or suffer at the hands of Obama.
Throughout Obama's State of the Union speech, he proved once again that he is an excellent speaker and very like able as a person. Although this fact remains true, some of Obama's policies are far-fetched, such as the suggested spending freeze in 2011. Why not just start it now? It means nothing to increase your spending just to say you are going to freeze it a year from now. An example of this would be if I had a credit card with a one thousand dollar limit, but I proceeded to charge twenty thousand dollars, only to say that I plan on freezing my spending at that inflated amount in the upcoming year. That is not responsible behavior. In my opinion, the “jobs bill” is just another name for a second stimulus package. The first stimulus package is not working as planned because unemployment is at ten percent when they promised it would not rise above eight. Why throw good money after bad? Some things I did like was the fact that Obama wants to stop giving tax breaks to corporations who send jobs overseas and instead reward those companies who keep jobs here in America. Also it was nice to hear him say that America is great. It is obvious that he has high hopes for the country but we need to be careful about some of the policies.
ReplyDeleteI thought that president Obama did great on his speech and addressed the key issues that our country is facing today. I liked how Obama addressed jobs (unemployment) and economy to be the top priority to fix because it is the biggest problem we face today. We are in a recession and we need to get to an economic recovery. I also liked how he has a plan to cut 10,000 dollars in college loans. So many students get themselves into economic problems with debt after college and this happens when they are learning to help our country fix all the problems we are facing today. We are hurting citizens (economically) who are trying to learn valuable information to help our country grow. I also support his plan on sending our soldiers home by the end of August. He is going to achieve this goal by supporting and training Afghan armies to fight against terrorism so we can bring our soldiers back from overseas, and also I liked how he hit on the issue of making a national commitment to support military families because we need to show those families and soldiers that we care for them and respect what they are fighting for overseas. I hope that all of Obama's plans can be achieved so that our country will prosper.
ReplyDeleteMy first comment is that Obama was talking about how the economy is destroyed, that it is getting worse and made a connection to letters that he had gotten from many little kids asking about when their parents will get jobs again. But I think he really wants to try and get many more job opportunities but he doesn’t specifically say how he will make that happen except having a “jobs bill on his desk”, and I don’t think that will be fully affective for all the people that need help he should find another way. Also he complains about the economy being bad, but we have a large debt that we should be focused on to not saying the economy isn’t important because it is just pointing that out. But to help the debt I liked that he is going to cut taxes though n he is lowering taxes for the middle class and people who have a certain income I think that will work really well toward our debt in the nation. In conclusion Obama will do great things for our country if he achieves these goals, and says what he says he wants to do.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the State of the Union address, I regained some trust with the president. Before his speech, to me it seemed as though he had ideas for recovery, but had no real means of putting them into play. Even though the country has survived the drop in the economy, he did not stop there. Usually I’ve noticed that once something is fixed, even temporarily the government with tend to hold off into putting more resources into it, like he said the whole thing about waiting. Yet he seems that he doesn’t want to stop until America has regained its former glory. He brought up good points about how other countries aren’t waiting to improve, and truly it does seem as though America is in a stand-still. By his striving to put America back on top, he would try to recreate the infrastructure of our country so it’s streamlined for success. Also, I liked how the money used to bail out Wall Street is not going to waste, how it is almost fluidly being used to help out the people, almost like its trickling down. Everything is in place for reform in the country, even after his good ideas, I don’t truly believe if he can do all that he said.
ReplyDeleteI thought Obama’s speech was very interesting and I am interested to see what ends up happening. He hit on some very good points and others not so great. He first stated that they have not raised income taxes. This will primarily raise employment due to the recovery act that has been proposed. 1 in 10 Americans today have either lost their jobs or are currently unemployed. I truly think that the recovery act will help out so many people and overall have a positive affect on our economy. However, with this issue I only have one concern: By not raising taxes how is he going to pay back the stimulus? I feel that this is indeed a great idea, but that it would just pile on to more of the debt that we are already currently facing. Obama also proposed that he wants to double our export that way in return it will increase more jobs in America. This to me is a great idea and I think it would be beneficial in so many ways; it would increase export and then increase jobs in America. In America today small businesses are struggling more than they ever have before. They are really taking a hard hit. A solution that was proposed is that Obama wants to take the $30 billion that wall street has repaid and give that money to community banks who will then save small businesses. There is nothing wrong at all with this proposal and is something that is a necessity to happen. Obama needs to turn around the small businesses and I believe is doing a great job in turning things around. The last incentive that really stuck out in my mind was Obama’s plans to help college students and make college more affordable. Within the 4 years of college Obama is willing to give 10, 000 to each college student. It will affect many lives and hopefully decrease college debt. Obama has hope for our future, which is great reassurance. He really is making a difference.
ReplyDeleteI thought the President’s speech last night was very inspiring. I thought his ideas and plans to be exactly what America needs. It’s about time for someone to come along and make some changes and try new approaches to the problems we’re facing. I loved the way Obama added quotes from letters from citizens to show his real connection with people. I also loved all of his ideas for making life better for the middle class. He seemed so motivated to make these big changes and really showed how he’s going to work hard to make it all happen (like having the bill already on his desk). His plans for education were right on and so were the ones for taking the troops out of Iraq. I wish, though, that there wasn’t such a distinction between what the democrats and the republicans are okay with. Seeing the democrats clapping but the republicans grimacing and shaking their heads made me see just how divided they are. I guess Obama could maybe work on finding a happy medium where he makes both sides happy. But as of now, I think his plans are something to look forward to and hearing him talk about the hope he has for our country makes me extremely happy to be living here.
ReplyDeleteWhile watching President Obama’s State of the Union address, I couldn’t decide if which side of the room I belonged on. During many parts of his address, especially the college debt forgiveness for public workers and educators I could definitely see myself being one to stand up for it, because it is true as he said nobody should be punished for choosing to go to college and get an education. At other portions, like his shout-out to Michelle for starting a campaign with Biden to aid overweight teens, I was saying what gives? I fully support her vision of helping the country’s youth in an evident problem; I don’t think it was appropriate for him to add in a personal plug for his wife, though. I have to say for the majority of the program, I was pleased with Obama’s strength to discipline using veto, and his continuing determination that we need a new plan, because it is clear that the plans of tweaking the infrastructure does not work, when what is really needed is an overhaul that can adjust with each crisis (Environmental, economic, etc) that has appeared within the last decade.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that stood out to me most in President Obama’s State of the Union speech is his proposal for a new Jobs Bill. With the unemployment rate at an all time high something has to be done, and the Job Bill seems to help decrease that rate. This issue is affecting me in a personal level because both of my parents are currently unemployed and have been looking for a job for over a year. One might think that I would be worried more about his education plans, but without the money, I would have no way of going to school. His assurance on millions of jobs being available at the end of the year is a very reassuring statistic for me and my family. However that does not mean my parents will find jobs, but with that Obama is endorsing more production of things that will provide more jobs. Another thing I agree with it how he is handling tax cuts. It is something to look forward to because we have not had these kind of tax cuts since Clinton, and during his presidency it seemed that our country was pretty well off (well better than we are now). I also like how he is focusing on the small businesses of America for the main reason that many of those small businesses are the stepping stone to a significant up-rise of our economy. Now I do not follow politics at all, and I can be called the typical ignorant American, but from a person who has a first-hand experience with this recession, I believe Obama’s speech was a success.
ReplyDeleteSide note: I thought these people are professionals. If that is the case, why would you chant Obama's name as if you were at a sporting event? Sometimes politicians confuse me.
ReplyDeleteI genuinely enjoyed Obama’s speech. I thought it was well constructed and touched on all of the major issues that the country faces today. I like that despite the criticisms of the stimulus bill, he still brought it up in his speech and pointed out the good it can do with the support of the country. He gave specific examples of how it can create jobs and stop people from losing jobs. Also in his speech he showed that he is very supportive of clean energy and how it can make jobs for the American people. I agree with how Obama plans on solving all of the issues brought up in his speech regardless of how “out there” it might seem, I just think that the only way he will be able to solve these problems is with more support and less “naysayers”. The only way I see Obama’s actions resulting in bad, is by more and more people just not supporting him because they think that the other people that don’t like Obama make good points.
ReplyDeleteSomething that grabbed my attention was the call to repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military. This, to me, seems to be an outdated policy based on stereotypes and misconceptions. To paraphrase what the late comedian Bill Hicks once said, anyone willing to join the military (within reason) should be allowed to. I'm a strong believer in equality among all people, regardless of belief, opinions, or preferences, and this is a great effort towards being closer to equality. Also, the suggestion of giving 10,000 dollars to college students hit me as a major step in the right direction. Many people have trouble affording college or have to settle for a lesser school because of money, and this could easily solve that problem. It also would cause less student debt across the nation which could be a major issue to anyone with said debt.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the State of the Union speech given by President Obama, I agreed and disagreed on certain different issues that were covered. I liked how Obama was honest and covered all the issues that needed to be covered. I agree with the fact that there will be an end to the war going on in Iraq as well as his proposition to seize government money for 3 years except for military reasons and social security reasons. However, I disagreed with his statement to close down public school that were doing poorly on all the standardized tests. I believe instead they should do whatever they possibly can do to improve our educational systems but not by closing down the schools and even changing all of their policies. Finally, I loved that Obama plans to increase jobs in the next year and improve student loans for students like myself. Although some ideas were very vague, however I believe this was an overall good speech.
ReplyDeleteThe State of the Union Address of 2010 was interesting because of everything that Obama talked about dealing with Jobs and education. I think that what he is saying about jobs is very important. Obama says that jobs must be the number one focus in 2010, and I think he is right. So many Americans today are unemployed and can’t find work anywhere and that’s because the economy is so bad right now. One of the many letters that Obama received was from a young woman. She said, “We are strained, but hopeful, struggling but encouraged.” And with this spirit, this great decency and great strength, Obama has never been this hopeful of America’s future until tonight. People today are frustrated, angry and don’t understand behavior in society. He wants to make small businesses work and to allow this to happen he will take $30,000 from the wall street banks repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat. I agree with him, because I think that one way to keep everyone working and stable is having both large and small businesses equal chances to keep operating. I agree with most of what he says about jobs and the economy in the society today.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with everything Obama talks about according to education. When he specifically says “no one should go broke, because they want to go to college.” We must make college more affordable and to do that this bill will finally end the unwarranted tax payer subsidies that go to banks for student loads, and instead the government will take money and give families $10,000 tax credit for 4 years of college. Colleges also begin to make there college funs more affordable, so students are allowed to go to school to get an education and afford the knowledge to get a well paid job. I agree with most of what Obama talks about. And I am looking forward to seeing more of what he promises.
The state of the union address had many interesting points. Some I agreed with such as a plan to create new jobs and others I disagreed with such as the three year spending cap. Obama touched on multiple topics anywhere from the economic recession to working together as Republicans and Democrats. The president also seemed to have spoken badly about the Supreme Court and how lobbyists are becoming more effective within our government. I am extremely hopeful of the bill he wants to pass about relieving student loans after twenty years or ten years is a student chooses a career within public service. Many jobs have not even been created yet but I believe that if our economy reacts positively to his plan for job expansion, employment will no longer be a problem and will help our country stop waiting and progress. The emphasis on clean energy jobs seems to be the future even though nuclear power has been around for decades. One subject that concerns me is how although Obama wants to put a cap on spending, he is going to spend tons of money before he does that. To me this is like buying a new Mercedes and then putting myself on a budget the next 3 years to pay it off.
ReplyDeletefirst off i wold like to say that this man might be jesus because everybody was clapping left and right like crazy. i like how he started off his speech with given us a little history, thus by doing this he got us to see that we have to learn from our mistakes of which happened long ago. He mentioned that the umeployment benefits having gotten better, also with the fact that they cut taxes for family's and low business. He stated that jobs should be our number one focuse in 2010, which to me doesn't sound bad, but i really don't know much about politics for i have never had a governemt class before. I like his idea of cutting down o the jjobs acorss sea's and opening up more jobs right here in america. He then shortly afterwards says "i do not accept second for America" and the crowd went wild, but that was good because it probly go all of america fired up and pumped to change the economy
ReplyDeleteI really like listening to Barack Obama’s state of the union address. I love listening to Obama speeches because he is such an amazing public speaker. I enjoy how he can work comedy into his speech while at the same time keeping it at the highest professional level. One thing I thought was neat was watching the “planned clapping” we talking about in class. I liked knowing that it was all planned ahead of time, and when someone slipped at the beginning, and they were the only one clapping for a few seconds, I was just thinking, “whoops! They messed up!”.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed which was odd was when on FOX they showed a cut of a group all standing up to applaud at the same time. As they all got up, there was one man who remained seated, personally I thought he would give in and stand up, but he held strong and remained seated while everyone around him stood. I thought that was interesting.
I liked president Obama’s plan on helping out the middle class with their retirement plans and college payment. Having three older siblings in college I see the effect it has on my parents and it will be nice to see how Obama’s plan is going to work out. I also liked his plan on giving the 30 billion dollars to small banks to help out small businesses. I believe that all there is left in our society is Wal-Marts and other big name companies left. Small businesses are just what our nation needs to spread out the wealth instead of having monopolies. I am just happy to see a president taking an initiative on helping the middle class especially how bad the economy has been I believe that it will turn around like he says it’s just going to take some time.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with josh when he talks about the applause, it can be a little to much. I also agree with Paula when she talked about energy efficiency and saving our earth. Something really needs to be done and rebates for the people to buy some of these items for energy efficiency is a great idea. But I also think that is not enough, much more has to be done to help save our earth and for energy efficiency other then in peoples homes. More factories have to be going for energy efficiency and less pollution, and our vehicles really need some work on MPG. The car industries need to be working harder on making cars more energy efficient and maybe put more into using something other than diesel and oil.
ReplyDeleteIn response towards 1.jPion, I would have to disagree with your argument due to the fact that Obama is our President, and I do not believe he was trying to win over a popularity contest. His speech I admit was a little out a line with all the laughter and remarks towards the Republicans, but I believe that he was trying to get his point across on how we were going to fix our economy. And since you were unsure about this new jobs plan, I’ll tell you. The government is going to take billions of dollars from Wall Street and put into smaller banks around the country to get smaller businesses to stay employed. Obama’s main focus in 2010 is jobs, and getting them back to the million’s of jobless people in America. I do not believe we are really trying to compete against other countries for energy. Obama just wants to make our energy, the cleanest, and the best it can be. If that means being the country with the cleanest and “best” energy, so be it. Finally, I think Obama is going about a way to fix the problems we have, with the Recovery Act, tax credits, and trying to ensure Health Insurance. Even though I think we are heading in the right direction for the people, I believe we are heading in the wrong direction as a country.
ReplyDeleteI am commenting on Paige’s comment: I too was questioning why he bothered to bring up the point about Michelle Obama making an effort to stop childhood obesity. Wow, great thing to do, but it was something that was not needed to be addressed at the State of the Union. He could say it somewhere else, where I don’t know, but I don’t think that it was needed to be said there. And I also agree with you that I was spilt on some issues. I would support a lot of what he said, but there were also a lot of times were I was going back and forth on some issues like the environmental issue. I do think that we need to change our environment to make it a healthier place, but I think that there are many more issues to deal with first, like the economy and the war. But there were lots of times where I had to really think about if I agreed on a point or if I disagreed, and what side I would have been on too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the speech because he called out many of the problems our government is facing and offered ways to fix them. For example when he said, “neither party should delay or obstruct the other party's bill...just because they can” I was very pleased and even a got a laugh out of it. He addressed a very large problem and followed up by saying that politicians need to take more risks and stop only voting for small time bills and let something pass that would actually make a difference. Politicians on both sides need to step up and actually try to make a difference instead of acting like children and voting against anything the other side tries to do. Progress is made through acting on an idea and lately it seems as if there hasn’t been much of it simply because one party is trying to get back at the other one. I was very pleased to see him call everyone out.
ReplyDeleteI am responding to 1st.n.bren@gmail.com. I think Obama’s plan for education reform was a goof idea. Why should he reward schools that are doing good? Then there will be no initiative to succeed. If Obama did not reward schools for being successfully they won’t stay successful because they won’t have the means or money to keep doing it. Obama is helping the schools who are not meeting the testing standards to, he isn’t just leaving them to fend for themselves, and he is having the government take over those schools in hope to improve them. He is doing every thing to help the country get ahead in education, he rewards those who are doing good so they keep doing good and takes over the schools who are not meeting standards to improve the educational system, which should make our country as a whole smarter if everyone takes advantage of every thing that he is supplying us. Just because some students do not try their best on standardized test wont really change the schools overall ability.
ReplyDeleteLike Laura, I thought the political split on many of the issues was interesting. I would also like to point out that both sides of the room applauded the idea of green energy and nuclear power plants. I also agree that there are other important issues, other than the environment, but in this case I think green energy will help to solve these other issues. Obama seemed very keen on the idea of using the United States transition to green energy as a combatant of unemployment. The economy can greatly be helped by this transition by promoting the usage of new products and the employment of Americans. Instead of simply focusing on the war or economy, I think we should try to kill two birds with one stone. By using the change of the United States as a green nation as a stimulant for the economy, we can achieve more. Why focus on one issue at a time when two work well together?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what Matt had to say about the address. Sure, Obama said a lot of things and made plenty of promises and plans for the future, but the most important aspect of it all is his ability to carry-out his ideas. Now, this next year will make or break his presidency. He will either be a lot like past presidents, and be all talk and no action, or he will act on his words and put plans into action to better our nation. I also agree that Obama spent a little too much time addressing the “rivalry” between the democrats and republicans, and the house and the senate. This isn’t the fourth grade, and our house and senate should not have to be reminded to be respectful. Obama did come into office at a difficult time to say the least, but even so, it is now his job to make things better, and the best way to go about this is by being action and goal oriented.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to 1.m.lindh’s comment about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, I think that it does bring about equality in the military. It not only prevents tensions that can arise when people of different origins combine, it also helps people get to know one another from real experience not personal bias. This is important in the Armed Services because people need to trust the soldiers around them, and if tensions and personal prejudices are present, it can cause havoc. No matter how far society moves forward to equality, there will always be those people that are racist, that are hostile towards different beliefs. If this policy were to be removed, it can very well lead to major problems within the military. The purpose of this policy was to keep the peoples personal lives personal. Yet I only agree with this policy to an extent, I do not believe a person should be discharged from the military based on their background, personal beliefs or sexual preference.
ReplyDeleteLike Paula, I agree with that jobs should be the focus in 2010, because jobs are what is going to make this country come back in the economy. What I do not necessarily agree with is that people who make their homes greener and more energy efficient, that they should be getting a rebate back on the house. I know global warming is an issue but why are we spending money when we do not have it. I feel that if people want to help out the environment it should be because they want to and that the government should not give money out as an incentive. Let the focus be on getting our economy back, and fixing health care systems. The environment is important by all means, but it should not be the main focus on the President’s mind, there are bigger problems that should be front and center.
ReplyDeleteI decided to comment on k.baro’s comment. First of all I agree with the fact, our president has an interest for the middle class and has good plans to help us. But I question if all he says is to try and make us believe like he cares or he really cares. But we will see if he really cares, if he keeps his promises. I also agree with the point that schools should not be rewarded for how good they do and teachers paid on a bases of how well their students perform. As Mr. Ault explained to me that there are teachers that like himself have all students in honors level classes that of course are to perform better than those in preparatory classes. So that would just decrease the amount of teachers willing to work with students that need more help than others. And instead of improving the schools it would just cause those students that are not given the chance, to fail out and instead of solving a problem, we would just make another. In my point of view I think that schools should not be closed. In my opinion it’s not the school’s fault for the education problems but the parents. Because teacher share with kids 8 hours a day but parents are the ones that have to motivate students to work hard and try to make kids have a good life with rules that will help them achieve the goals we as people want. When they don’t show kids to go to sleep early or eat breakfast or do their homework, they are not going to perform as well as they could because teachers are not there 24/7 to do that. It doesn’t matter what schools they go to if they have a bad experience at home an in my opinion a different building is not going to change them. One thing I disagree with is the lowering of college tuition. I feel that colleges should not lower tuition but give bigger scholarships that reward students for there hard work. Because if colleges just lower tuition it causes students to not try as hard for scholarships to pay for college. Since it’s easier to pay lower tuition. But if they increase their scholarships it would make students work twice as hard to achieve those high scholarships that could pay for their college.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Paige’s post about Obama giving a shout-out to his wife Michelle and vice President Biden’s campaign to help overweight teens was pretty unnecessary. It is in fact an issue teens and children have today, however it did seem a little bit of a personal plug as Paige said. For example, if he was going to start talking about personal issues than he should have touched upon gay marriage/rights or abortion which are more of the “popular” minor government issues, the shout-out for teen obesity was a little bit too much of a personal plug rather than actually addressing the issue itself. I also agree with Josh R about all the applauding, especially since I found out it was all scripted. It just made the speech that much longer and after 10 seconds of applauding you would think that President Obama gets the idea that others favor his proposals, but no they choose to applaud till he has to signal enough. It is nice to see that the members of the house and senate support our leader, but it would have easier to understand and watch the address without the constant pausing due to all the clapping. Other than that, I still believe Obama has good visions for our country, especially his college loan forgiveness proposal.
ReplyDeleteThis is a response to the blog written by Alicia O. I agree with her completely when she said that she was disagreeing with the freezes on spending. As many people are happy to see that Obama wants to focus on the massive deficit in our economy, Alicia pointed out that while he prepares to freeze the spending, he will be increasing spending beforehand and using money that we do not necessarily have! It is also like a self fulfilling prophecy, for the reasons that if we spend more now, we go into debt faster and longer, forcing the freeze on spending to go on longer. The only part of Alicia’s blog that I did not agree with was her contradicting statements, because she wrote that she was impressed with Obama’s ability to speak and address an audience but thought that his future plans for the country were shaky. Isn’t that the reason we elected him, to be able to make tough decisions and stand behind them, not to be able to be a well versed speaker, because if that’s what we really needed we might as well could have grabbed a guest speaker at the local Mariott and put him up on that podium.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Greg that if Wall Street is rewarded than so should Main Street. I agree that the $30 billion of the money for Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat, is a great idea. This is one of the good things that Obama is doing. I also agree that the fact that he is doing a tax cut for families with children in college is a good way to help the people. Lastly the fact that Obama is not increasing income taxes will help a lot.
ReplyDeleteIt was very clear at the State of the Union address that the democrats and republicans stand divided with many things like 1.E.Higd said. Obama mentioned this somewhere in his speech and I thought he had made a good point to try to eliminate such a divided government and really focus on the people who make up this nation. I think that Obama understands that this is a difficult time financially for many citizens and if the government can become united with certain issues, then it will benefit the well being of the people. But again, the challenge of agreeing in politics is rather complicated. Obama has to not only gain trust within the republican party, but also the people. He definitely has a lot to work towards, but if he can get everyone on the same page and supporting his goals, I think that our nation can climb out of the economic hole we’re in and finally have some success.
ReplyDeleteI am writing to respond to what Alex Verhein said. I agree with what he pointed out that congressmen should not “delay or obstruct the other party’s bill just because they can”. In order for anything to get done in this country politicians need to step up and actually do something, not sit around and continuously vote against anything their opposing party wants to do. Once our congress learns that even though they might personally be against a bill, it might be what is best for the country and they should allow it to pass so we can become stronger and be one of the top countries like we used to be. However, until this happens, we will continue to go lower in ranks as a powerful country and be made fun of by other countries. Politicians need to learn to grow up and accept that sometimes their way is not always the right way.
ReplyDeleteI am going to comment on Greg’s post. I agree that it’s a great idea to take $30 billion from what Wall Street has already paid back to support small businesses. Small businesses are the driving factor behind a competitive market and so it is necessary to support them. Obama’s tax cut for businesses that hire workers is another great idea to encourage businesses to hire and decrease the unemployment rate. The reduction on college expenses for 8 million Americans is certainly welcome to high school seniors and incoming college freshmen. Greg’s statement, “If he follows through will help the declining economy, which is needed greatly” brings up the question of validity in Obama’s words. Not just Obama, but all politicians, as they have been known to say one thing, but then do another. If Obama keeps his word and carries out the plans he mentioned, the future seems hopeful.
ReplyDelete"S.Seiff said...
ReplyDeleteBecause if we are in a huge amount of debt already and Obama is trying to get us out of it, I don’t think having the government paying for the loans that were not fully paid off will work. I think that will just add to the debt to our nation in 10-20 years later when Obama is out of office and some other president is force to pay off the nation student loans debt. It’s a good start to the idea but I think there might be a better way to help us get out of debt and help kids pay off their student loans."
While it is true that it will take some government money in order for this plan to work, I believe that the cost of it compared to the positive effect it will have on the country is enough to see why Obama wants to start this policy. With more educated people within our country, down the road they will be able to do things for our country that will save us money in the long run. While now it may seem like a lot of money is being spent on this plan, years from now we will see the long term benefits of it.
I can’t really say if Obama was right or wrong, because I’m not a fortune teller, and as a result, can’t predict the future. The ideas seemed solid, but until I see them in action, I reserve judgment. Freezing government spending for three years? I don’t know if I really buy that one at all. Politicians have good ideas that get bogged down in congress until they come out all wrong. This will probably turn into some low spending for a month, or two and then another natural disaster will hit, and it’s by bye budget. I do like his fees on the banks, and job support, but again its important to see how it plays out, because he claims to fight the lobbyists, but they can be very… persuasive ($$$$). I hope that he is strong enough to enact this change he is so excited about, and not just sit around for three years making up more fluff as he goes along. I’m all for a lot of his ideas, but I haven’t seen any proof that he will do something about them; not yet at least.
ReplyDeleteI am commenting on what Sarahs post said. Sarah I agree with everything you said. I believe that Obama did a great job on his speech and did focus on the good and bad of our nation. I think that with the economy getting out of control he needs to figure out solutions, and actually do them and not just talk. Also I think you made a good point when you brought up the college loans, and debts students will have during or after college because that might apply to all of us someday Also that is unfair to want an education and to be punished for wanting to learn. I think that Obama needs to start acting because he has really good ideas, and good plans for our nation he just needs to act on them in the next year and prove that he is a good president.
ReplyDeleteI agree with jack (1.j.pion) the energy crisis is about a lot more than just being the best. If all we do is showboat and brag about being number one, how can the other nations even take us seriously? Would you want a friend who did nothing but talk about how great they are? I wouldn’t and Obama needs to realize that the U.S. is above petty brags and arms… I mean “energy” races. I also agree that Obama was showboating a little, and he came off more cocky, then down to earth. I personally didn’t mind the lighthearted jokes, but it will be hard for some to take him seriously if he just jabs the republicans (and the SUPREAME COURT?!?). Overall I think the U.S. needs to get over nationalism and realize that a lot of our issues are global issues, for which there is no first or second places. The only results of the energy crisis are (1) we destroy our own planet and (2) we save earth, and get to live. There is no way we can win and everyone else loses. It came off as a little ignorant (for me at least).
ReplyDeleteI disagree on what Glende said about how Obama is a good public speaker. I think that he can voice his opinions fine. The reason I say that is because Obama never declared on how he was going to do any of his reformulates he just said he was going to do them. Some other things is that the people watching had set times they could clap and stand I thought that was taking it I little to far. I also agree on what Tim was saying that Obama will give a 10 thousand dollar tax brake to the families with students going to college. I also disagree with Paula’s statement about healthcare. I think that it would just put our countries more in the hole. So do the people that come here illegally still get the healthcare plan? What Obama should do is the cut some of the cost off healthcare so that the families in need can have the coverage they need.
ReplyDeleteI agree with much of Josh Deangelis’ points of the speech he brought up. I think it is a good thing that Obama is trying to make the middle class happy. Josh is right, all the new types of energy is exciting. It is important that there is a strong focus on the environment for a change. His stance on education reform impressed me also. The focus on better community colleges and making tuition more affordable will certainly help our nation’s education system. However, many of these goals sound expensive. It is still unclear as to whether Obama can come up with enough money for all this reform. I just hope that Obama’s freeze in 2011 can actually free up money to reduce the debt and help pay for these new changes. Much of Obama’s presidency will be judged on his three year freeze. Only time will tell if all this reform will work out, but I agree with Josh in that his ideas sound exciting.
ReplyDeleteIn response to what 1.E.Higd and Sam said, I support Obama's decision to try to abolish the separated government we have today because this in itself causes problems between the ideas and plans we face today on accomplishing these issues that affect our entire nation. We as a nation need to come together and support each other instead of putting each other down because we have so many more important and difficult problems to face like the debt our nation has and we as a country need to work together and focus on building unity in this nation because I don't believe we are that unified at all when u look at the democrats and republicans tearing each other apart. I know everyone has a right to their opinion but if we can all agree on a plan of bringing success to America, our problems we face today will vanish so much faster and our country will unite as one.
ReplyDeleteI’m responding to Lindsey May’s comment. I agree that it was great to see that both the democrats and the republicans could agree and both stand to clap when the topic of green and clean energy came up. I also liked how he had many ideas about using that as a way to make more jobs for the unemployed people in the US. It was also good that he specifically said that change could not be done alone. I think that when he was elected president, some people thought that he would change all of our nation’s problems quickly and painlessly, and that’s impossible. So it’s good that he’s bluntly saying that there is going to need to be some compromise. I also agree with Mike Lindh’s comment about repealing the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. It’s about time that people get over the fact that others might be different from them and just work together. I, too, believe in equality for all people and I’m definitely in agreement that this is a great step towards that goal.
ReplyDeleteI am writing in regards to Haley R’s response. I agree 100% with everything she said. Obama is in high hopes to really turn around our education system and turn around our economy by saving businesses and helping the unemployed. Haley discuses how Obama is really trying and is more hopeful than ever. This is extremely reassuring, but I think that through thick and thin Obama should always be hopeful of our economy. He is our president that is why we elected him. He should always believe in us no matter what and help us through it all in a positive matter. Also, as far as the helping the unemployed and saving businesses I think these are two great ideas that will make a turn in our economy and help so many citizens out. It is essential to give the unemployed opportunities to now finally get a job and also to now give small businesses a chance to stay running. I really hope Obama follow through with, actions speak louder than words. The last aspect that I really believe in that Haley said is how Obama is going to help out with college education. By Obama giving 10,000 throughout one’s four years it will give students more opportunities to now go to college due to it will be affordable.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with W.G. He claims that Obama is Jesus. No one can be perceived as Jesus. Just because Obama promises something does not mean it is going to happen. He wants to look good so he says these things and does not take the initiative to do anything about it. Also just because he mentioned that unemployment benefits have gotten better does not mean that they have and the tax cuts have not been put into effect yet so there is a chance it may not even happen. He gave us that little history speech to sound better than our previous speeches. Yes jobs should be our number one priority to get the economy back up but is it really going to be? I do agree with the fact that I too do not know much about politics and like the ideas of creating more jobs here in America, of course everyone started clapping. But when you actually think it through, those are just ideas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stefan F. and the points he made. I also liked how it seemed in his speech that he took attacks at the big businesses he used bailout money to help and the big bonuses they gave their executives. The country needs more small businesses and they make the majority number of businesses and the United States. The economy is not in a good position right now and if more small businesses were able to get help and start up it would create a good number of jobs. I’d also like to respond to Nick M.’s post by saying that I disagree with his idea that Obama should not be allowed to blame Bush for how bad the budget deficit is. Obama was put in this position as president because the problem was handed to him by George Bush. Our economy is not in a position where we can just stand back and let it correct. I do feel however that he can be reckless with his spending and throw money in different programs and just hope that it will correct it.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with what Josh was saying when he was making his points about how this focus on helping out our middle class was a breath of fresh air. I believe that President Obama is really getting down to the root of all of our problems and is very optimistic about enacting all of his proposed changes. I was very pleased with our current unemployment situation being his number one priority. He knows that the only way we can turn things around in this country is to get people working again. Another valid point he made was when it came to education. I was very pleased to hear him say that we have to re-vamp our current system to get our youth ready for their future and make them those indispensible workers we all long for. But, I do realize that these speeches are all talk for the most part. After hearing Obama call out his own supreme court and his house and senate, make me think that he is going to lobby, and do everything in his power to get this country back to where we should be.
ReplyDeleteSeems like everyone kind of feels the same about the speech. Obama's main point was jobs and doing things to restore job in America. A lot people think "hopefully it works, or time will tell." I agree with them because there is not much we regular citizens of America can do, except hope that some of the plans and bills that are passed will work. It is agreeable too, that his speech was a step in the right direction. To get small companies and small banks back into the loop could open up the economy a little bit. When people see that they will start spending more, and when companies see that they might start investing more. I also agree with a comment about unification. We as a country need to see the big picture as a whole. For example what can both parties do in order to restore the economy. Using both sides of intelligence would be helpful. All in all, his speech was a good step in the right direction and hopefully in 2010 there are changes for the good.
ReplyDeleteI both agree and disagree with Mr. Gables post. Yes Obama’s speech was very well constructed so that he could touch on as many points of our countries situation as possible (thus it lasting for over 70 minutes). He brought up the economy and how he was going to bring us back from being number two because he won’t accept that. Where I do disagree is when Gable speaks of how those not supporting Obama aren’t doing so because others are disagreeing with his many new decisions. How I see it is that people dislike Obama’s ways because like every other politician who made promises, he didn’t follow through. Many of his plans could become reality if he put his foot down and stopped all lollygagging within political chambers, which he did attempt to do.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Alex Kerwin, I also liked how Obama’s address was partially focused on jobs, because our economy right now is lacking in jobs, forcing our economy into a deeper and deeper hole. Also the idea of the 30 Million for smaller businesses will help a lot and I personally think is an AMAZING idea.
ReplyDeleteI also was reminded by Mike Lindh by the “don’t ask don’t tell policy for our troops. I think that it was interesting how all of the military men that were shown had absolutely no reaction when Obama brought that up and I’m wondering if that’s because they were against it, or if they were given orders to not react because they were representing their entire branch of the armed forces when they were at the address. I think that Kevin Derue when he said, “In response towards 1.jPion, I would have to disagree with your argument due to the fact that Obama is our President, and I do not believe he was trying to win over a popularity contest.” I think that there was a little too much laugher, but Obama was able to keep his speech on track despite this.
Sorry that my blog post is a little late, I just got back from a weekend long retreat with my church Youth Group. If it’s a problem then we can talk after class.
I agree with Steve B about the tax credits being a good idea for kids who want to attend college. I also agree that by achieving this more students will be able to get a higher education which in turn will give them a better chance in the job market. Our economy has a better chance of improving if people are able to work and build this country back up. I feel like Obama’s speech restored hope for a lot of people and motivated them to go out and try to be productive. The country is only going to get better if people come together to make the effort to make it better. Obama did a good job focusing on the needs of the people and dealing with what directly affects them the most. That is the most important quality in a president and I think he will make smart decisions in the future to get our country out of the current lull it is in
ReplyDeleteIn response to 3.b.pete: I agree Obama did seem rather vague in how exactly new jobs were going to be created in order to get people back on their feet and working once again, but I believe that is because he doesn’t want to make any promises and than when it’s not exactly what he said have people turn on him because it wasn’t word for word what he suggested. He did however make references to rebuilding our infrastructure, specifically the railways, and also possibly opening up new nuclear plants which would create many new jobs for the unemployed. The state of our economy is directly tied to our debt which is a result of two wars and people spending more money than they had so of course working back to breaking even should be the main focus of President Obama and our government and many of the ideas presented during the speech were geared towards doing just that.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Paige Blackburns post, I would have to agree with her on most of the issues she covered. I agree, as well as Paige, that I am torn between which side I belong to. There were pros and cons of President Obama's speech, I just don't know which side weighs out more. Inevitably, the college debt forgiveness for students and public workers is a great way to help out the people. It is definitely time that someone steps in and attempts to put a stop or even help out with the outrageous price college entails. No one in this country should be held back from an education based upon not having the finances to pay for it. At another point during his speech, Obama sort of poked fun at his wife Michelle for being embarrassed of the standing ovation. I do fully support her vision of helping the countries youth, but I found it unprofessional for Obama to approach it the way he did. I agree that the new plans Obama is making may be successful, I would just like to see him put his words into actions. If he does actually follow through with his plans for the economy, I believe America will be in good shape.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Chazz Hutchings’ post, I agree with him on the fact that Obama spent more money during his first year in office more than any president before him. Therefore, I also believe that Obama NEEDED to hold government spending for three years except for military reasons and social security reasons. I think that the people are giving him too much credit for coming up with that idea because that idea overshadows the fact that he spent so much money and put our country in so much debt. I also agree with Chazz when he says that schools that are failing on standardized tests are going to continue to fail because the schools doing good are the ones getting paid. I believe that it does indeed contradict the No Child Left Behind Act as well. Finally I believe that once Obama does put an end to this war, the airport security will be just as prepared as it is now because of what we have already seen happen with airport terror.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Jason P. on that he said he feels like Obama isn’t a good public speaker. Obama is probably one of the best public speaker’s of our generation and can stir up emotion and strike intrigue with the best of them. It seems like a lot of us do have the same issues with the speech, a main one being that he always seems to say what he's plans to do but never how he plans to do it. I agree with Steve B and Michelle B on that I think it is a very good idea to give the tax credits to college kids. Especially with our economy being in the state it is, it is more important than ever to get a good education to get a good job, even though it is harder now than ever to do so. Another interesting thing I have noticed with being one of the latest posters is that people are tending to pick sides or attempting to pick a side after hearing the speech. I find this interesting because the speech was supposed to be populist but people still seem to be either angered and offending or extremely impressed.
ReplyDelete“Paige Blackburn said... During many parts of his address, especially the college debt forgiveness for public workers and educators I could definitely see myself being one to stand up for it, because it is true as he said nobody should be punished for choosing to go to college and get an education.”
ReplyDeleteI would definitely agree that college debts are going to become very important for students, since we are about to graduate high school. Making federal money readily available, and creating a process that is simple, and effective will take some of the stress away when going to school.
Stefan Falbo said...
With the unemployment rate at an all time high something has to be done, and the Job Bill seems to help decrease that rate. This issue is affecting me in a personal level because both of my parents are currently unemployed and have been looking for a job for over a year.
His plan for creating jobs and reducing the unemployment rate will boost the economy and bring us on a path towards helping a lot of families in need. I know that my family is also being affected by unemployment, so hopefully his plan can aid families.
I agree with Josh DeAngelis about how Obama is doing some of the things that will help our economy but is also setting some very lofty goals as well. His plan to help people pay for college and helping out local banks and small businesses is vital to saving our economy. He needs to act soon on his plans so that he can get them working as soon as he can. Along with goals of helping the economy Obama wants to greatly reduce the deficit and pull the troops out of Iraq soon. Reducing the deficit as much as Obama would like to, 1 trillion dollars, over the next 20 years would be very difficult and maybe not even possible. Adding to that goal he also wants to pull our troops out of Iraq soon even though the war is still going on there and we have yet to truly accomplish our goal. Obama made a lot of proposals this state of the union address and hopefully he follows through.
ReplyDeleteLooking back at Alex Kerwin’s comment (as well as David Amy’s) I found it particularly interesting because college loans and loans in general at this point in our lives is something that is very crucial since we are on the road towards taking out many loans for college. I do believe that what Obama is trying to do will help the country in the long run, however the effects will not be seen right away. He was already criticized for not having his plans for unemployment work out as well as they could have and Obama took full responsibility for that. My dad has been unemployed for a little over five years so hopefully Obama’s plans can be felt throughout the United States affecting families around the nation. He is still getting major slack for the economic condition, but there is faith in the long run for improved conditions.
ReplyDeleteI decided to respond to Rapps’ post because I liked that he commented on the nature of people to either love the speech or hate the speech and the lack of in between. People tend to float to one side or the other and just agree or disagree with everything instead of actually listening to all of the issues and where he stands, and making decisions for ourselves on whether or not we agree with different leadership choices rather than the man himself. For me personally, Obama said some things I liked and many things I disliked, leaving me torn in two. Is Obama truly going to cut the deficit while passing multiple stimulus programs, or was Wednesday’s state of the union address an example of a great speaker once again attempting to sell himself to the public? I tend to not trust him as there are many contradictions within the things he says such as ripping the budget deficit growth under Bush in the same speech that he explained our 1 trillion dollar deficit growth since he has been in office. I do appreciate that Obama is spending the stimulus money on truly good programs with great intentions, but I still believe that the budget deficit is going to grow too severely and we will never be able to repay the Chinese. Also, health care regulation or reform may be helpful, but full on public health care would be a disaster and the private industry for it would crash almost instantly. My friend’s mom is a former citizen of Canada where they have public health care, and she said that it wasn’t unusual to have to wait 6 months to just see a doctor. Medicine and health care is extremely expensive and this is because without our health we are nothing. Health care may actually be one of the few things that we aren’t doing wrong at this time, and we are clearly far more efficient and effective in our current system than any other country. That being said there are areas in health care that we can improve but this does not come in the form of public health care.
ReplyDeleteIn response to CJ Gable I completely agree with what he had to say in regards to Obama’s speech. I also do feel like Obama did explain himself well about the intentions of the stimulus package and he gave good examples of where the money will be spent and how it will help our economy get back to how it once was. I also agree with CJ that the only way the stimulus bill will not work out is if there isn’t enough support and people second guessing it. We need to stand by the stimulus bill 100% in order to get out of this recession. Obama pointed out many key factors that he plans to focus on like college loans and how he is working on trying to help students payoff the loans and extend help to as many students as possible.
ReplyDeleteIn response to hthie3’s first post, I am glad to hear that Obama is doing what is right and not what is popular because that is what a good leader is supposed to do. In sports, when the coach says it’s time to do sprints, nobody actually wants to do them but they know that they will help them improve their game and give them a better chance at success. The same goes for Obama. If he were to do what everyone wanted and kept ignoring our major problems, we would be stuck like we have been and never improve. In order to make changes he has to risk his political popularity by making risks that nobody else was willing to make as presidents because of their fear of being disliked by the people. A good leader is not necessarily a loved leader until they are actually finished leading and people realize their great impact that they had and the personal sacrifices they made to create that impact. Give him some time and I think he will do some great things for our country, especially concerning the unemployment rate and our education system. It seems to me that while spending more now, he is making it so America becomes very successful in the future.
ReplyDeleteI am in concurrence (I think I made that word up) with Stefan about Obama’s proposal for new jobs bill. In order for this country to get back on its feet you need to start at the main problem. If unemployment is brought to full employment then more kids will be able to afford to go to college. Also with more jobs people will start spending more, which will help us get out of the financial troubles that our country is in. I agree with Obama that education is important and that his tax breaks that help kids go to school are imperative but the most focus should be on jobs because to me that seems like the heart of the problem and if that is fixed then everything around it will gradually get better. I also agree with Stefan that focusing on the small businesses of America will help us get out of this recession.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Austin (1.a.litt.07). I’m pretty sure Obama is merely trying to appease the masses, and make the government look good by saying that they will freeze spending, for it seems so very unlikely that it will remain true. Furthermore, this is a claim like that is largely unwise, for he will only be berated more for the spending once it undoubtedly happens. As for the lobbyists, Obama seems to mean well, and I’m sure he wants to fight the corruption in the government; however money is the only language that everyone in the world speaks (albeit in different dialects, perhaps.) And the lobbyists speak this language it as if it were German (always yelling noisily). I find it hard to conceive that he will be able to resist their approaches. Ultimately, I too know not what is to come, however I am at least hopeful, if skeptical, of his ideas and plans.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to just make a quick response to Nick Manidch. I feel like although both systems are flawed, waiting 6 months to see a doctor is much better than potentially being turned away with no treatment at all.
ReplyDeleteThe debate with Steve and Nick M. is one with alot of gray area. I think that Obama has spent alot in his first year partly because of economic problems and other problems at the time which he was elected. Though on the other side, you can't say where Bush was at fault when he was elected after Clinton's failures to find Bin Laden. Bush then proceeded to try to find him because Clinton had so many missed oppurtunities to catch him but didn't. This led to spending millions in the War in Iraq and went onto Bush's presidential record. So one must consider the current state of the nation before critisizing presidents.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat as Paula Yoder when she said the she was trying to anticpate the clapping. I also sat there thinking that this was all like fake but real at the same time. i like how she was stating that she feel's like obama is going to put us back on our feet. I'm really interested in this year because i can't wait for jobs to come out. I'm not a crazy going green person but paula is right this topic is big and needs more atention. and the beginning had me so sad, but thats what you do, first you start the speech with a sad story to get peopl emtional attached then you end the story with questions and the dersever to sovle sommething.
ReplyDeleteThis is a response to Sam Paust. I agree that it's difficult to regain trust in the government, but not so much because of how the nation is now, but how it has been for years. Admitting the problems with the nation could go either way, but I am just glad we know he is not trying to hide quite as many things as past presidents may have. In regards to increasing jobs through clean energy, I think it is important to keep it realistic and not exclusively to one area. The economy stretches over every corner of jobs imaginable, and to try to reinvigorate it through one career choice is a poor decision. I wish he would instead try to reinvigorate multiple areas that stretch beyond the spectrum of clean energy so there would be a more stable increase in careers across the nation rather than a simple jump in one area.
ReplyDeleteI am responding to Annett’s post regarding the scripted address and when congressmen clap. I found a night of enjoyment from watching the sides clap. And as I watched it, often commented that they really planned it out. I noticed sometimes one side (Republicans or Democrats) would stand, sometimes stand and clap, and sometimes clap in their seat this to me was an inclination as to how much they supported whatever was just said.
ReplyDeleteAnnett also commented on Obama’s plan to take 30 billion dollars from larger banks and give it to smaller banks so the small local businesses can borrow that money and thus stay afloat. I think that is a great idea if it actually would work. Like Annett says, he has some great ideas, and is truly trying to get the government back up and working successfully, I hope they work. My biggest fear with Obama’s plans are that like some of the ones he wrote in the past they never worked, I think and Annett seems to agree that this will work, and I hope they do. Our economy needs to go upward and Obama seems willing to try whatever it takes to get us back to the top.
Even though I am not a big follower on politics, I would have to say I agree with Josh’s opinion for the main reason because Obama’s plan is exciting. The fact that he is doing something to lower tuition for schooling is something to look forward to. With most of his focus on Community Colleges can definitly make more people go to school, which would help people getting better jobs. And by people having better jobs they make more money, to which they can spend and make the economy better. Also with his freeze, it is kind of a win-lose situation. Some people will like it and some will not, and I am kind of in between on the situation because somethings they are not paying for can make people unhappy about the freeze. But the good part is that the debt could be reduced and money can go the thigns to make this economy better
ReplyDeleteI agree with Josh Rappaport when he says that Obama is a good public speaker. I think that he has great potential in making a difference in our society today. I also agree with josh, Michelle and Steve about the tax credits for college kids. I think that the way he is trying to help our generation now; will make a huge positive impact on the world someday in the future. I think that Obama making this commitment to help out college kids get an education and later get a job is the most important thing for our world today, because education and jobs are key ways to live a life successfully. I think that if this really works then the world will be a better place.
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