State of the Union

President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, the 26th of January was a much awaited event. And while America waited, politicians, pundits and political activists each volunteered his or her take on what the President would say, should say or should never say. One such opinion forbade the president from claiming that the state of the union was strong. She told the President instead, to call it “unsettled.”

The President did just the opposite. His speech was nowhere close to painting the nation as unsettled. Conversely, it was a speech filled with hope and optimism for a nation that once “put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook.” And citing how America rebounded from being left behind in the space race by Russia’s Sputnik, when neither science nor NASA existed, the President recalled

that “after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.”
Then came President Obama’s challenge to the American people. “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” he declared. He reiterated what he said two years ago, “that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven’t seen since the height of the Space Race.” He promised to follow through with this goal by sending a budget to Congress that will focus on investments in biomedical research and information technology, especially clean energy technology, among others.

President Obama laid down his stakes – regaining our competitive edge and leadership in the global community while reining in the monstrous problems of his administration, foremost of which is the economy. While there are some signs of jobs picking up and home sales growing a little bit, more businesses are closing and home foreclosures continue to rise. Last year, one million home foreclosures were recorded.

Keeping this country and its people secure from terrorists attacks and homegrown criminals, finding a decent way out of Afghanistan, effectively regulating abusive banks, insurance corporations and oil companies and reining in on our budget deficit and debts to China, etc. are only some of the domestic problems the President faces each day with no end in sight.

But the President has goals. Better yet, he gave this goals a timeframe.

• By 2015, U.S. will become the first country to have 1 million electric vehicles on the road.
• He challenged his people to meet a new goal – that by 2035, 80% of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources like wind, solar, nuclear, clean coal and natural gas.
• He wants to see 100,000 new teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math by the time the baby boomers have retired from their teaching jobs.
• Access to high-speed rail for 80% Americans within 25 years.
• High-speed wireless coverage for 98% Americans within the next 5 years.
• Doubling America’s exports by 2014.
• Working with nearly 50 countries to transition to Afghan lead and bring U.S. troops home starting in July.

Ambitious goals? Yes, indeed! But impossible they aren’t. The question is, will President Obama and his Democratic Party pull them off without having to depend on Republican help? Already, the Republican response to his State of the Union address through Cong. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin clearly opposes any kind of “investment” which every single program and project in his goals certainly entails.

Without Republican support, none of these initiatives to move this country forward could take off. They’d be dead in the House. This vision of America leading the charge once again in a global competition now dominated by emerging economic dragons like China and India will remain a vision. Russia, too, is gaining grounds. America, on the other hand, is stuck in party politics as usual.

It looks like President Obama’s “Sputnik moment” will have to wait for another generation to become a reality. That is, if there’s anything left to salvage from the dust of our neighbors’ progress.
Until then, we can watch in frustration or disdain, our politicians’ theatrics. That or, we can take to the streets and demand an end to their follies!