Response to Obama's State of the Union Address

Barack Obama's State of the Union Address was said to be defiant, similar to Ronald Regan's address in 1983. He admitted to the many problems with our country's economy, however, he had an optimistic tone when referring to our future. One of the main topics of Obama's address was the job crisis in America. Due to the poor economy, finding a job has been a difficult task for those looking for work. One of his solutions was to export more goods because increasing the amount of productivity would give the opportunity for more jobs in America. During the next five years, Obama plans on doubling exports in order to provide two million jobs across the country. He then continued to discuss the need to help small business owners maintain their jobs. The problem with small businesses is that banks are only willing to lend money to bigger companies. To solve this, Obama proposed that thirty billion dollars from Wall Street banks be given to less significant banks in order to support small businesses. There would also be a tax credit for small businesses to hire new workers or raise their wages. I found this topic to be extremely important seeing that my father owns a small business. I know that he was in favor of Obama's proposal because small businesses employ almost half of all Americans. By allowing smaller businesses to expand, Obama is helping to decrease the problem with America's unemployment rate.

Obama continued by describing our country as every day being election day. Since Americans tend to look for embarrassing headlines about the opposite party, they are not playing to win, but for the other party to lose. We feel the need to obstruct every single bill just because we can. I believe this shows the high level of competition in our society today. The poor economy has brought American citizens to work against each other instead of focusing on improving the conditions of our own country. After Obama discussed topics that I was somewhat unfamiliar with, he touched upon the idea that all men are created equal. He insisted that if you abide by the law, you should be protected by it, too. To further encourage this idea, Obama plans on strengthening laws to protect against those affected by hate crimes. This includes the argument over gay marriage. He agreed on working with congress to allow gay Americans to be married. Obama also mentioned the idea of freezing government spending once the country was done hurting, and also touched on the idea of health care. Regardless of the amount of applause President Obama received after each section of his address, there is no doubt that many disagreed with his ideas. Members of the Supreme Court made it very evident that they opposed some of his solutions by remaining silent as the rest of the administration applauded him. Even though the two parties will not be agreeable on every topic, President Obama seems eager to begin the process of rejuvenation of our country.