http://abc7.com/tag/state-of-the-union/
A week ago, President Barack Obama started his State of the Union address with strength and optimism. In his introduction, he made it clear that as a country, “we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth.” The speech was framed with the image of an American “family,” which has struggled together, as a unit, through difficult times to rise above their situation to finally be in the perfect position to succeed. And that’s how President Obama wanted us to see our nation and ourselves: as a family, united in the effort to do something we can be proud of.
In the past few years, the American economy has found its way to its feet again and the American people have found evident in their lives the effects of a stabilizing country, including the lowest gas prices we have seen in a long time and job creation at a rate higher than any year since 1999. Given this recent upsweep in the economy, the U.S. Government is in the special position of being able to steer our country in any direction, which means there are virtually unlimited options for the potential direction of the country.
Last week, Obama seized the opportunity for such a large audience to share his vision of the country’s future which included hugely ambitious projects such as a better and free community college opportunity for students, raising the minimum wage, completely restructuring the infrastructure of American commerce (meaning modern ports, faster internet, etc.), developing an America focused on creating value in foreign and environmental affairs and much more.
https://www.esa.org/esablog/ecology-in-policy/state-of-the-union-2015-obama-calls-out-climate-skeptics-urges-expansion-of-educational-opportunity-civility/
What political analysts and journalists have found so hard to believe about this speech is the confident outlook on these idealistic pursuits that the president put forth, despite little reasonable hope for success. In the recent election, the Republican Party practically demolished the Democrats in what was an emphatic overhaul of congressional power. At this point in time, the Democratic Party simply does not have the power in congress and, because of that, contention between Obama’s plans and the legislative reality was painfully obvious throughout the address. Even as Obama talked up the rising strength of our nation, he periodically was compelled to joke with the clearly unimpressionable Republican majority. Even when he promises with a swagger that he will veto without consideration any bill that attempts to undo what he has worked for, one can’t help but wonder what exactly Obama will be able to get done.
What seems to be the case, in my opinion, is that Obama recognized his chance to take the platform of the State of the Union Address and share with the American people a liberal view of the future of this country without paying any mind to what the reality in congress might do to his plans. By oozing confidence through the whole speech, joking and showing no limit to his pride in the progress of our country, he’s made it clear that he’s confident in the American people and the American lawmakers. What I believe President Obama wants to see happen more than the actualization of any of the plans he put forth is for the congressional system to start working again.
Towards the end of his speech, Obama abandons the pursuit of his absurdly large plans for the country and speaks explicitly about the bare framework of our legislative body. He acknowledges the partisanship, the greed, and the intense gridlock that halts this country’s ability to get anything done and pleads with the American people and congressmen to think bigger than that. To look beyond the dismal state of our own government and see a brighter version of the kind of government we could have. “Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns,” he says, “Imagine if we did something different.”
http://www.usnews.com/news/photos/2015/01/20/photos-2015-state-of-the-union
I believe every plan President Obama lays out in the beginning of the speech are impossibly large not because he thinks they’re going to succeed, but because he wants American government to think big for once, to look past its own gross inability to make any progress and think about the possibilities for the country. We have an opportunity, with a strengthening economy and a youth with an investment in the future of their nation, to transition into a government that works. “A better politics is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears,” Obama said. “If we’re going to have arguments, let’s have arguments — but let’s make them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this country.”
In these closing moments of the State of the Union Address, there is a hope that reaches to every single citizen of the United States of America who is interested in a prosperous government. As a people, it gives us the opportunity to look at the state of our country, and instead of having to dig ourselves out of a hole, attempt to do something worthy of the intelligence and the potential that we have. There are still problems in the system, there is still racism, sexism, and injustice, but there is, above all else, hope for a country to grow.
Sam Shopp