State of the Union Revisited

At the very beginning of the 2011 State of the Union Address (given on January 25 ^th , 2011), President Obama said that fighting over beliefs is what makes us a democracy, but in light of events, such as the Tuscon shooting in which Gabby Gliffords got shot, the government needed to remember "that no matter who we are or where we come from, each part of us is a part of something greater---something more consequential than party of political preference." Furthermore, Obama said, "We believe in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people…." President Obama admitted that "this simple recognition won't usher in a new era of cooperation."

Looking back on the State of the Union Address 2011, we can see that things have not gone according to the President's plan. Eight months later, the United States government has lost its impeccable credit rating; Republican presidential hopefuls are claiming that the United States was founded on Christian values, and therefore needs to be a Christian country again, implying that non-Christians are not real Americans; and the needs of the majority of American citizens have been held hostage by Republicans, who have insisted on doing the bidding of big business and greedy misers at the expense of the poor, the elderly, and the unemployed. So much for the idea that the two parties needed to share responsibility and work together to pass laws.

Obama's attempt to convince the 112 ^th Congress that what was "at stake" was "not who wins the next election" either fell on deaf ears or was deliberately ignored. The Republicans had made sure that unemployment is still high; disaster relief is slow in-coming; and that the American people believe that the only way to get out of the mess is to elect a Republican President and give even more money to the rich.

The economic progress that was barely visible in January 2011 has mostly disappeared. While corporate profits are still up, the labor force is still struggling. The tax cuts that were passed before the Address have not helped spur the economy on; after all, tax cuts only help if you actually have a job and income to be taxed. Today, there are doubts that we ever left the recession; and if we did, the economy may still stall out and go into another one. Fears of tough financial days ahead has made the stock market jittery, has kept consumer spending low, and workers in fear that they may receive a pink slip any day.

Everything that the President stressed as being needed has been sacrificed. Innovation is at a standstill. Clean energy jobs and technology is stalled out. Education funding is shrinking. We still frown on educating immigrants, and students who study here are still being set back to their homelands so that they can compete with the United States, allowing the outsourcing of research and jobs to continue unabated. The desire to rebuild our infrastructure has been axed by a budget crippled by the Republican need to continue tax breaks for the rich. Obama foresaw this possibility, for he warned that "Cutting the deficit by gutting out investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine." Obviously, Congress disagreed.

Most troubling eight months later is the fact that the President's plea to fix the tax system in this country has been ignored. The tax law is still too complicated, and the special interests still get massive tax breaks at the expense of other people. Obama stated that "Before we take money away from our schools, or scholarships away from our students, we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break." The Republicans are still saying that the rich need their tax breaks to create jobs (which the rich are not going to do), and instead have gutted the budget removing money from government programs for the poor and education. And the Republicans are holding firm to this despite the fact that some of the rich, including Warren Buffett, are now saying that the rich are not paying enough in taxes.

Looking ahead, we can look forward to a 2012 State of the Union Address with more pleas for cooperation between the parties, innovation, and job creation. Furthermore, we can foresee the Republicans continuing their agenda of transferring wealth from the poor to the pockets of the rich while insisting that jobs will be created by doing so. The middle class will continue to shrink, and unemployment will remain at unacceptable levels. The Republicans will continue to do everything in their power to undermine the President, and villianize the Democrats. And if they do seize the Oval Office in the next election, the average citizen will continue to be sacrificed for people who have no intention of creating more jobs than absolutely necessary.