Sep 10 2009
Reaction to President Obama’s speech to Congress last night
President Obama says that his new budget, which he will release in a “few days,” will invest in clean renewable energy, education and health care. He also stated that he will remove “unnecessary spending.” That will remain to be seen.
President Obama says that he going to invest $15 billion a year in renewable energy, and make it so that the new, cleaner, automobiles will be made here in America. Does America really want a return to the industrial age when automobiles were the keypoint of the economy? The industrial age had its place, but America has developed. In a previous speech, President Obama said that great thing about the American worker, and the American economy, was their innovation. If innovation and technology is what our economy is now built on, why do we want a return to building cars - even if they are clean energy cars?
President Obama called for government to govern with responsibility. There is nothing in his speech that spoke to responsibility. A responsible government does not run a huge deficit. At $15 billion a year for renewable energy, almost $239 billion a year for health care, rising costs in Afghanistan, “investment” in the American economy, bailing out banks, giving tax cuts, and spending more on education - where is the deficit reduction? Where is the responsible deficit reduction? Where is the responsible governing? What about this plan is responsible?
There were many mentions of working together, but there is nothing in this plan that indicates he wants to work with everyone. He says that “Health care reform cannot wait, will not wait, and must not wait another year.” What about that statement indicates working with people? President Obama asked Congress for a lot of things in this speech, and none of them resembled things that Republicans would want to help with.
President Obama did ask for education reform - which is desperately needed. There is need for education reform. Everyone must have access to education - at least K-12. Higher education is a privilege, not a right. There should be spending on K-12 schools. Education should teach people how to read, provide options for those who are not going to college, and prepare students to live in the real world. American schools fail at this - fail drastically. The testing shows that we are at the bottom of industrial nations in the following categories: math, english, and time spent in school. It is possible that time spent is school is related to how well students do, and maybe we should consider expanding the time students spend in school.
Charter schools are a great thing. They teach students and do it with lower cost. President Obama asked for expanded charter schools. If charters are doing so well that a Democratic President is asking for their expansion, maybe the reforms made should be so that public instruction mimics charter schools.
College graduation is not a marker of intelligence or preparation. A plumber or auto repair person does not need a colleg education, but they are needed. Career tech is just as important as college preparation. Not everyone wants, or needs, to go to college. Why not expand career technology training? Get people into jobs they can do, and do after high school. Some people need to support their families, some people have other reasons they need to go to work. Not everyone needs to go to college, and not everyone should be pushed into college.
Governing responsibly means taking everything into account. It means protecting your citizens. President Obama did a great job at trying to encourage some parental responsibility for education. He called for parents to start working with their children on education. That is a great move towards responsible governing, because parental involvement does not cost anything, but improves education.
Governing responsibly means taking responsibility for your spending. The rest of the Presidents did give you a deficit that you inherited. But it was not only President Bush, so please stop blaming him. Instead, focus on what you have done to raise the deficit. There has been lots of money spent on “economic recovery” and helping banks that has not trickled down to help most people. There has been lots of money spent in Afghanistan that didn’t need to be spent. Stopping spending on military technology will not help America. It will not help the deficit. Stopping wasteful spending means stopping spending on banks, medicare fraud, and welfare services.
People’s money is theirs. They earn it. Why should you, President Obama, get to take that money and redistribute it? Is that responsible governing? Is responsible governing giving tax breaks to people who use most of the government services? It might be to President Obama, but that will not help the country in the long run.
Economic recovery has to be done independently of the government. Economies cycle. Responsible government means recognizing this.
President Obama’s speech was filled with platitudes and generalities. A lot of it was the same thing he said in his inauguration speech. Speeches are how President Obama tries to take control of things. His presidency is spinning out of control, especially with regard to health care. This is not the responsible governing President Obama would like - it is simply governing as usual.
