State Of the Union Address

Just as expected the State of the Union adress largely consisted of shaking hands and greeting the president until 8:11. Ten minutes of shaking hands and meeting and greeting left me a little wary of the hour before me. But with a flash of his professhional and charismatic struggle the president began his speech with the reassuring statement, " We can do this. I know we can." I found it particularly interesting that Obama mentioned in passing the family that we had read a little bit about. The American promise that Obama used to take him to the office of presidency was being threatened. The economy is the agressor taking away from the american people and so to fix this problem Obama lays out his 'blueprint' of major ways to save the economy.

First, Obama discussed American manufacturing. He smiled and grinned as he bragged that General Motors was back on top as the number one automobile manufacturer in the nation. He explained that he wanted to achieve great manufacturing in American again. The first way to achieve this was to allow tax breaks for businesses in the United States, while announcing that every multinational company should pay taxes. To keep American economy afloat all businesses that can stay in America should, and Obama is willing to offer incentives to make sure that they do. Another way to keep manufacturing in the nation was to develope a 'Trade Enforcement Unit'- meaning more inspections on goods, to make sure that they are up to safety standards. These new acts the president hopes to pass are to "level the playing field." Through a new employment program he hopes to make new vocational groups in community colleges to hire straight into businesses and suggested that all highschool students are required to graduate highschool. Obama stated that the education of americans is the key to the improvement of the economy.

Other highlights of the speech include: his take on illegal immigration  (that i dont particularly agree with), and his joke about crying over spilled milk. His joke about spilled milk was definitely the highlight of my night, and reminded me that even presidents can have senses of humor.