Not much news in the things Obama’s spoke about in his ‘State of the Union’ speech. It was good to hear; he has not lost his demagoguism which made him the president of hope. This president of hope has got some pretty harsh punches though, which he carefully but honestly admitted. Not that he had any choice.
Some things were bound to come up, such as health-care and the financial crisis. His tone was at least pleasing to those who felt wronged in the last twelve months. As Obama spoke about the bank bail-outs, he made it clear that he hated them as much as McCain’s ‘Joe the plumber’: Helping out Wall Street without helping those working on Main Street was and is not the White House’s aim.
I expected him to come up with a little bit more on health-care. There are not many difficulties to overcome, even if the fact to the matter is that those which do remain will be hard to take. A clear message to his own democratic party to back him in his plans, packed in a message to all congressmen to ‘not walk away from reform’. After all, America hasn’t been so close to reform for many, many years. And he is right, although current proposals aren’t good enough. He spoke of the millions that will lose their insurance in the coming year. If that is a correct prediction, it might open republican eyes. The next couple of weeks might tell us more, and I’ll do my best to keep development in plain view.
There was also a slight reassuring message. Without having had the time to plunge the depths of finances, even I was glad to hear Obama backed a plan to cut the deficit. “Specific steps” will be taken to pay for the trillions of dollars, and these steps will start moving in 2011. It’ll be a freeze of government spending for three years. Too late according to republicans, but I doubt that. I’m not at all sure whether the American, or world economy at large, is able to stand on its own feet after depending on government spending for such a long time. Governments have grown huge, so cutting will inevitably have to happen, but carefully, not driven by saving-lunacy. They’ve not done that for years, why over-hurry when the stakes are so high?
This brings us to the next point of Obama’s speech: The workforce. America’s unemployment rate is still rising. That is both bound to create a sense of unease, as well as a negative mood among US citizens. Start making cuts in government too quickly, and even more workers will lose their jobs. A market driven by innovative minds and processes might be much better able to create new jobs; it does need a sense of security in which investment is rule rather than exception. To my knowledge then, Obama does wait long, but it is better than acting too early and slump the economy back into recession (or long term miniscule growth).
I lied earlier on. He did surprise me in his speech on one topic: The Supreme Court. I believe it was last week (?) when the Supreme Court decided spending could be unlimited in electoral campaigns. The president did not agree, and neither do I. The runs for public functions are already too often a pig circus, where budgets and mud throwing competitions decide much too much. Don’t let that get out hand.
The American nation has to come together, and carry the burden. Republicans and democrats working along each other’s side, instead of blindfolding themselves with their ideologies, is the only thing that can bring improvement. Obama knows this, reaffirmed that his first year wasn’t easy and all didn’t go according to plan: He also broadcast a new message of trust and hope. Don’t switch sides too quickly; if he acts decisively his presidency is all but lost.