Well At Least He Didn't Insult The Supreme Court Posted by Aaron Goldstein on 1.25.11 @ 11:48PM
However, I found President Obama's SOTU address a paradox. President Obama spoke of investing in biomedical research, information technology, clean energy technology and education as well as the merits of Obamacare only to say we were under "a mountain of debt" and thus had to freeze spending.
How exactly does Obama think we got under a mountain of debt in the first place? At one point, President Obama noted that countries in Europe invested more in roads and railways than we do. Modeling ourselves after Europe isn't exactly a sound strategy when you consider the fiscal state of Europe is more perilous than our own.
President Obama spoke of innovative American individuals such as Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and innovative American companies like Google and Facebook. But innovation comes from the individual and entities established by individuals. Did Edison, the Wright Brothers, Google and Facebook seek government handouts?
I might have given greater weight to President Obama's remarks about education had he spoken about school choice rather than more federal control of education. When it came to illegal immigration, Obama was downright shrill when he said, "And let's stop expelling talented, responsible young people who can staff our research labs, start new businesses, and further enrich this nation."
The President gave short shrift to foreign affairs. He spoke of how our troops in Iraq leave with their head held high. They do so because of the President Bush's surge, a policy vigorously opposed by the White House's current occupant.
Speaking of the current occupant, I am not sure how he can say our reputation around the world has been restored when the Chinese openly mock us at a White House state dinner.
It was nice of President Obama to say he supports the aspirations of the Tunisian people. But what of the aspirations of the people of Egypt, Lebanon and, for that matter, Iran?
I did applaud, however, when President Obama called upon colleges and universities to allow military recruiters and the ROTC to their campuses now that DADT has been repealed.
Of course, no one will remember a word of this speech in a day or two. After all, President Obama's actions in the coming weeks and months will speak much louder.
