State of the Union Address

On Wednesday night, President Barack Obama spoke to Congress and the country in a 71-minute State of the Union speech. It looks like he’s been paying attention to the latest populist polls, and attempting to refocus his attention on the immediate problems that are affecting America.

His main focus was the economy and creating new jobs. President Obama acknowledged the high unemployment rate (10%) and wants to work on fixing that. 
He is making job creation his number one priority. His resolution? Focus on helping community banks so they can issue credit to small businesses, eliminate capital gains taxes on small businesses and provide an incentive to all businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.

He discussed several ways to reshape America:
• Financial reform
• Serious investment in America and its infrastructure and energy
• Double exports of products over the next 5 years
• Invest in education

Other topics discussed included the financial bailout, relieving the burden of the middle class, freezing discretionary government spending over the next three years, minimizing lobbyist influence in Washington and bringing earmarks out into the open.

Another topic mentioned numerous times in his speech was partisan politics. President Obama urged both parties to overcome their differences and pass bills that can help the American people. He plans to meet with both parties on a monthly basis.

Not much emphasis was placed on health care overhaul, as opposed to last year, when health care was a centerpiece of President Obama’s speech and list of priorities. When health care was finally mentioned, it was buried in the middle of his speech and not much time was spent on the issue. Before the speech, it was evident that the bill was dying a slow death and he needed to say something to revive the bill.

President Obama acknowledged that the topic of health care is a complicated issue and that there has been a lack of transparency, along with way too many backroom deals when it comes to discussions of this bill. He did mention that if someone has a better plan that can relieve health care costs, lower premiums, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare and stop insurance company abuses, he’s welcome it.

The longer the bill is debated, the more the skeptical the American public is in regards to the content. He urged Congress to come together, forget bipartisan issues and pass a bill while it still has some momentum, knowing fully well that if it doesn’t pass soon, it won’t pass at all. He did not offer a solution to move the bill forward. The chances for the bill splitting into different parts that focuses mainly on insurance regulation and, perhaps, Medicaid expansion is looking more and more likely.

For a full transcript