President Barrack Obama is an excellent speaker who is able to convey precise and viable policies to the general public in an elegant and precise manner. After reading through the transcripts of the 2012 State of The Union, there are several themes I’ve noticed that convey an interesting image of the President. It may be his last State of The Union, but his speech illustrates a man with the interests of America at a higher priority than his reelection.
The first thing to notice about the speech is the economic policies the President lays out. Most of them are taking from the supply-side school of economics, but interestingly they are more long-term oriented than one might expect. He discusses tax cuts and deregulation like a weathered Republican, but most importantly is his emphasis on both training skilled workers and increasing innovation. The theme we can all take is he talks not about increasing government spending to stimulate the economy; but rather enabling businesses to grow and prosper: whether through tax cuts or infrastructure investments. These policies will not take immediate effect, and will certainly not be in place by the November elections. In the long run they will make our economy more robust and increase our competitiveness. America will be better in the future, even after him.
President Obama’s foreign policy was also touched on and should certainly be of interest. His policies to increase American exports are working, and one of the only major accomplishments of this year’s congress was to approve free trade agreements with Columbia, South Korea and Panama. He talks of investigating China’s anti-competitive practices and of eliminating Iran’s nuclear capacity. Obama’s strength has always been his foreign policy, and he has been successful in improving America’s position within the world. This will undoubtedly increase our competitiveness and make our economy even stronger.
Of most interest to me are his proposals regarding education. Despite many campaign promises and past State of the Unions, very little has been done to reform the system. He recognizes the need for education in improving our economy and global standing. He offers some excellent compromises, which will excite both parties: recognizing the importance of teachers while also supporting and giving schools more flexibility, which is just code for breaking the teacher’s unions. A final concrete policy he proposes is to prevent students from dropping out, something he calls on the states to implement. His farsightedness is again exemplified here, along with the strategic realization only the states can implement his work.
In the end, President Obama’s speech can be seen through two lights. It may be the last speech of a one-term president, struggling to make sure he has an impact on the country in years to come. It may also be the speech before he starts his second term, one where his dreams have been tempered with a realization of the importance of political strategy. Either way, little will be done in the next months before the November election. Our hope is to see President Obama’s vision for the future of America become real.
