Assignment #9 - State of the Union address

Watching the State of the Union, Tuesday.

Obama began his fourth State of the Union address Tuesday night by quoting President John F. Kennedy – “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…it is my task to report the State of the Union – to improve it is the task of us all.”

A number of topics were discussed throughout the speech including jobs, immigration reform, education reform and gun control, as well as a few surprise topics such as raising the federal minimum wage and cyber threats.

The topics I anticipated being discussed during the speech included gun control, gay rights, women’s rights and immigration. He touched on all of these subjects at least once, but he also discussed some topics which could have been considered unexpected, such as climate change and raising the federal minimum wage. 

According to a survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, 35 percent of Americans wanted the economy to be discussed, and 15 percent of Americans said gun control was a top priority. The survey also said 12 percent of Americans were concerned about healthcare. These three topics were all heavily discussed during Obama’s speech.

The president announced a “fix-it-first” plan, which is a program to be used to put people to work when repairs are urgent. He also mentioned a Partnership to Rebuild America plan, which will make sure taxpayers do not have to have the whole burden of paying for these repairs.

Budget was the third thing Obama discussed during his speech, saying the deficit has been reduced by more than $2.5 trillion, mostly due to spending cuts and raising taxes on wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

Health care is a topic that took up several minutes of the address. He said his Affordable Heath Care Act is already slowing the growth of the cost of health care. Obama urged Congress to support him and make his plans a reality to ensure all Americans can afford health care, no matter their financial standings.

Obama shifted his discussion and mentioned the addition of more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the past three years, after cutting jobs for the past 10 years. The addition of three manufacturing hubs in America was announced, and also included Apple bringing jobs to America for the production of Mac computers. These additions will bring many more jobs to America, lowering the overall unemployment rate in the country. 

Climate change is a topic he discussed, mentioning 12 of the hottest years on record have occurred in the past 15 years. The president said it is important for the future of our children to find a solution to climate change and the rising temperatures and terrible storms wreaking havoc on different parts of the United States. Step one will be reducing pollution, and then to find more sustainable sources of energy.

A surprising topic of discussion was education, specifically preschool education. In most places, preschool is not a necessary form of education, possibly causing children who do not attend to be behind before they even start kindergarten. Obama also mentioned American high schools lacking in educational success, compared to high schools in Germany, where graduates leave with an educated equivalent to an American community college education, and prepared to enter the workforce. He said a high quality preschool will help children from falling behind in the “race of life,” and no child should be behind academically due to a poor education system.

Immigration reform took up another several minutes of the State of the Union address, and it was a topic expected to be discussed. Obama mentioned stronger border security and more boots on southern border in order to reduce entrance illegal immigrants to the lowest numbers in 40 years. He also suggested background checks, requiring immigrants to pay taxes and also learning English to become a citizen. He said real reform means fixing the legal immigration system.

Obama plans to finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year, so men and women will finally make the same wages for the same work. Along with that, he plans to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.

“Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living,” is an idea Obama agreed with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on. There is no reason anyone who works full time should live under the poverty line. Although inflation would cause prices of goods and services to go up with the rise of minimum wage, it will still likely help a lot of people in their day-to-day lives.

America will complete its mission in Afghanistan, and over the course of 2013, 34,000 military troops will return home to their families.

“By this time next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over,” Obama said, giving hope to Americans with family members overseas fighting for their country.

Gun control was the last topic discussed Tuesday night. Obama said many supporters of the second Amendment have come together for common sense reform, including background checks prior to the purchase of guns and senators working together on laws to prevent selling guns to criminals.

Obama said each person and family who has lost someone or been injured due to gun violence, especially in the last two months, deserves a vote in Congress.

The president told a story hitting close to home for him, of a 15-year-old girl named Hadiya Pendleton, who was killed one mile from his Chicago home, one week after his inauguration, where she performed.

There have been more than 1,000 deaths since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn., because of bullets, which is 1,000 too many.

 “They deserve a simple vote,” Obama said in support for stronger gun control laws for former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Pendleton, the families of Newtown, Aurora and Blacksburg victims, as well as the other communities across America who have experienced gun violence recently.

It was made clear that not every act of violence can be stopped, but we can help shrink the number of violent attacks occurring in the United States.

I predicted a surprise during the speech, and Obama gave me several. Overall, I think my predictions were about 75% accurate, with some topics being simply overlooked or just not thought of at all.

The president gave Americans a lot to anticipate for in the coming year – of course, Rome was not built in a day, and all of these changes will not happen overnight, but if American citizens can stick together, things can change for the better. United we stand, divided we fall.