In this State of the Union address, President Barack Obama faced a tough challenge. With both liberals and conservatives upset about the direction this country is heading, Obama needed a strong speech to inject hope into his supporters.  With this speech he managed to hit many major points, chide both parties, and provide a vision of a bright tomorrow. At the same time many people realize that Obama’s words and actions can sometimes say very different things. So without further ado here are some of the main points of the speech. It is rather lengthy so feel free to skip down to the end for some of my thoughts.

The Economy. Obama was incredibly focused on the economy, spending a large amount of time addressing it. He mentioned job loss. One theme that came out while addressing job loss was a theme that would be repeated several times throughout the speech. This theme was the “it may be bad but it could be worse theme.” He also addressed the bank bailout calling it “about as popular as a root canal.” Obama went on to defend the bank bailout and the financial rescue program. Throughout his defense of these programs he used the “it could be worse” strategy. In addition he commented that he promised to do what was necessary and not what was popular. While this is true, this also means that the American people have to trust his judgement. More on that later.  Obama noted that he hadn’t raised taxes and commented on many stories about how the stimulus bill has been helping people. The president then proposed a fee that the big banks would have to pay to the government to repay part of the loan.

Jobs. Obama went on to call jobs the “number one focus” for 2010. Obama viewed business as an engine to get the country out of the recession and viewed the role of government as one which helps businesses succeed. Here is where the confusion starts though. It becomes unclear which businesses Obama is referring to. While he spoke a lot about small business, he also mentioned giving tax incentives to big business. Among the things he mentioned was a plan to give $30 billion dollars to community banks so they can give loans to small businesses. This would be funded by the fee that the big banks paid to the government. (Does he really think he’ll get the banks to cough up $30 billion?)

Infrastructure. Obama did present an interesting short-term fix for the jobs crisis: get Americans to work building our infrastructure. While it was a good idea, to me it sounds like political rhetoric. Work on the infrastructure takes more funding and government control and that is not an option at this point. In addition he justified it by using Europe,India, and China as examples. He then stated that he wouldn’t let America be second place.  While this bit of patriotism is great, I don’t think it’s relevant or addresses America’s main problem. He then went on to talk about giving tax breaks to companies that keep jobs in America. This point felt familiar and I remembered that John McCain used this as a major platform. He mentioned that the government must make sure that the middle-class has the right information to make smart financial decisions that will avoid another recession. This worries me a little. This idea in the wrong hands could be disastrous. The government can provide information as long as it’s not selective. In addition the middle class cannot be manipulated into making decisions that he government prefers.

Innovation and the Environment. Obama urged Congress to pass the climate bill. He mentioned building clean nuclear power plants and becoming more energy efficient.

Other stuff. Obama mentioned that the cost of college was too high. He urged colleges to cut costs. He proposed taking away subsidies on college loans and offering tax breaks instead. He talked about rewarding good schools rather than sending funds to fix the problem areas. He restated the importance of the health care bill. Obama mentioned being open to a spending freeze to help stop the deficit. This freeze would take effect in 2011 and would not freeze essentials like National Security and Medicare. Again I view this as rhetoric. I doubt that such a freeze would ever happen. If it did I would probably support it. Obama mentioned openly letting gays into the military. He also talked about improving intelligence gaps. He urged Congress to pass a bill that would help neutralize the effect of the Supreme Court’s spending ruling. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about view my entry for 1/22)

My Thoughts. Obama started well. However, although he preached bipartisanship and often called out his own party on their short comings, he did take quite a few jabs at Republicans that don’t gel with this image. He mentioned being surprised that they didn’t clap at certain parts of his speech. He also said that “I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change.” This came off as a joke and a jab at the foolish people who disagreed with the science behind the policy. At the same time Obama preached unity and cooperation. He talked about the fact that people were tired of the negativity and the constant tearing down of opponents. However his own actions over the previous years didn’t support what he was saying. Towards the middle of his speech he also came across as whiny. He would blame the previous administration and the lobbyists for many of the problems that the country is facing. While it’s true that they made some mistakes, it’s not exclusively their fault.

In conclusion, it was a good speech that hit many of the right notes. However many Americans know how great a speaker President Obama is and will still be skeptical of his actions. If his actions continue to oppose his words, he will not find more approval than he is getting now.