What did you think of the president's speech?
Posted at 5:00 AM on January 26, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(25 Comments)
Filed under: Politics/Government
President Obama delivered his State of the Union address last night. Today's Question: What did you think of the president's speech?
Comments (25)
Presidential pep rally. Could he say a little more to help evolve our people?
The speech resembled more of a political concilatory recitation than that of what is happening to the US.
Does any politician breath air without wondering how it will affect re-election?
Even the cheerleading lost lambs in the chamber audience failed to show direction or enthusiasm.
Our country is broke and our President has not really come to grip with the size, scope and severity of the problem. No mention of taking a serious look at entitlements. "If BS was music he created another work of art...."
the biggest revaluation i had last night was:
dear congressmen Boehner.
after watching you performance last night during the state of the union address for 2011. your facial expressions and the way you rolled your eyes made me laugh so hard i cried. not to mention the limp wrested clapping ; amazing! while i was lying on the floor laughing in tears i realized that i was not crying because i was laughing. i was crying in sorrow and hiding it with laughter. You are the man responsible for helping me to see the light. because of you i am convinced that our government is broken. your blatant display of arrogance and complete disregard for the respect that OUR president "incase i need to remind you" deserves while addressing the nation is a complete mockery of what i call democracy. the only thing that can fix our government is your resignation. other than that i enjoyed to insight and the compassion to work for the future
I thought the speech hit all the notes it had to.
It is of great interest to me that so many people enjoy attacking the POTUS. If he had said lets cut benefits back to 2005 levels, he would be attacked; if he says lets increase
education he would be attacked. I am personnally waiting for his proposed budget
in mid February, that is when the rubber will
hit the road. I did not hear Rep. Ryan speech
but from the reactions on this blog I wish he would have stuck to his proposed plans from
last year 's campaign. He knows what needs to be done or at least tried to get America on the right path.
.
Obama is a politician so he is not capable of telling the truth, especially if it rattles the left wing parasitic nut jobs. Nothing is free including health care. Someone has to pay the bill. He offered to cut $400 billion over 10 years and yet this year alone we are over one trillion dollars in the red. The math does not work. Obama is not a proven leader so expect bad times ahead.
Its a understandable speech.
I do not agree with some of it, but it is interesting to see how it was said.
What I find most amusing is the number of channels only COMMENTING on the ramblings of Bachman and did not give the time of day to really air her 'weirdness'.
And the prepared speech is not what she said, that was even more bizarre. Her hair was all in tangles, her eye contact was with the wrong camera, and she kept fumbling with her words.
She on some medication now?
Seriously....
I was also surprised by the Socialist Ideals expressed in the republican rebuttal.
The bit about safety nets.... Normally they are all about competition and devil be damned for those who can't make it.
And I found it amusing about a congress all about constitutionality of function that they allowed a rebuttal. After all it says the President shall give a state of the Union address, nothing about a counter point from ANYONE.....
I would have thought this year they really meant what they said and maybe even hold true to the letter of the law on that. Guess it was all double talk.
People in the privileged public sector don't seem to understand the war zone the rest of us are in. We need more than soothing talk and more promises that will never be delivered. (I'm still waiting for more transparency in government--try to find out your own city's or school's employee salaries and benefits and you'll see why we need it)
The message about education should have included a plan to standardize education nationally so the workforce that has had to become increasingly mobile can count on their children being educated without gaps in their learning. 3rd grade math and 11th grade government should be the same coast-to-coast.
We need to hear more C.U.T., Contain Unbridled Taxation, from our government. I feel like the private sector middle class has become the taxation slaves and the public sector our master.
Van Mehlos writes
"The FACTS are there: He has had two years to help foster conditions to grow jobs, it is not government's role to "create" jobs unless they want an even larger federal work force to laden the national debt. Unemployment has grown since he took office."
So which is it? You want to blame him for not creating jobs, and you don't want him to hire anybody directly. Conservatives generally (Reps Bachmann & Ryan, for example) go a step further: they want the labor force to grow, while cutting government spending, which essentially means workforce cuts in government. Those people, of course, will end up on unemployment, which adds to the unemployment problem rather than addressing it. But, let me guess - this would be Obama's fault too.
I appreciated the speech very much.
The President talked about ending corporate welfare to oil companies - past presidents wouldn't even admit that billions of tax-payer dollars go to these companies. A lot of that money came back to them as campaign contributions.
The President admitted the reality that our country is falling behind - in technological innovation, in education, in highways and internet and rail infrastructure, etc. The GOP like to wave the flag, and then run our country into the ground - two wars and tax cuts for the rich at the same time.
When Bush gave a speech, he was either lying or out of touch - it didn't reflect reality. Then, the press and many people would take this unreality seriously. I found this crazy-making.
As a progressive, I disapprove of Obama's concessions to the right-wing-nuts; but at least he lives somewhat in reality.
It was a very good speech, calling forth the best of all while signaling quite effectively a shift in policies. He acknowledged changes, but exerted a leadership tone in issuing challenges that would move the country forward rather than backward.
Republican cuts all mean lesser quality of life and fewer, not more jobs. All economists say that you don't prioritze deficit reduction over jobs during a recession, yet the Republican cut jobs insterad of creating BOTH private and public sector jobs thhrough investments.
If they were serious about cutting the deficit, they missed their chance by forcing all of us to fund tax breaks for millionaires in extension of the Bush Tax Cuts.
The response to the SOTU were clearly not in response to the SOTU. just more anti-Obama diatribes, and Bachmann couldn't even get her facts straight (but then, she never does)>
The president did well to skirt the real issues and avoid his responsibility in the state of current affairs. The FACTS are there: He has had two years to help foster conditions to grow jobs, it is not government's role to "create" jobs unless they want an even larger federal work force to laden the national debt. Unemployment has grown since he took office.
Two years of no results: e.g., unemployment exceeds 14% based upon the number of out of school adults eligible to work vs. the smaller number from those filing for unemployment. National debt has tripled, Bail outs have cost Americans billions in new liability ( GM stock sold at a loss, unpaid TARP loans to GE and AIG, special perks to the Unions, granting over 120 exceptions to his supporters to exempt from ObamaCare Health reform bill,etc., etc.
In short_ all talk and again no action except to push his anti-capitalism agenda.
I think the president's speech was wonderful. He outlined clear and broad goals the nation can - and should - work toward. Scientific investment is the only way the U.S. will stay relevant in the 21st Century and President Obama's reminder that NASA spurred investment and development is a great example of the power of science and technology.
Details of policies can be figured out later... as long as officials from the Republican Party of "No" are willing to do what they're being paid to do and not just posture on news programs.
I wasn't able to hear the speech last night, and haven't had the time to listen to an archived broadcast. I'm disappointed that our "analysis" of the speech is based on college drinking games and Tweets. I would hope that at least MPR would have a deeper and more intelligent analysis of a State of the Union speech than what showed up on Tweeter or Facebook.
i thought the speech was good altho kind of grandiose and not specific-but the tone was uplifting and positive! it was kennedyesque in nature and a tour de force for people to be determined and can do it! on a 1-10 scale i would give him a 10 he work the crowd well and it set the agenda for the rest of the year!
Once again, Obama's speech has said to me that he wants more people to start working together. If he would come right out and say it, that would be better. Based on mood and reaction of all parties at the SOTU, the follow-up by Ryan seemed to continue to put up barriers to cooperation. And i could barely stand to skim read Bachman's response. Charts? I dislike political parties, and wish more work would happen across these false barriers to get something done for the People.
More of the same. Keep spending. Oh, I mean "investing".
So, during the spending orgy called the Porkulous Bill, you missed a few things? Wasn't $850 BILLION ENOUGH?
Oh, freeze spending? You just added about 20% to the federal budget and NOW you want to freeze it?
I am always amazed that the U.S. was so fortunate to have someone with Obama's leadership capability on the scene, ready to become president, when we'd just entered the worst economic period in this country's history since the Great Depression. I felt that way again last night, watching Obama give the State of the Union. I laud his commitment to education (at all levels), to accessibility to higher education for all Americans, and to.clean energy (by eliminating the kinds of tax credits and government supports reserved for the oil industry and transferring them to the clean energy industry). He struck a balanced, bipartisan stance, without compromising himself, and gave people reason to hope. Obama certainly hasn't done everything I'd like to see him do (for example, I wish he would have simply said, in January of 2009, we are pulling out of George Bush's wars and all our troops will be home in a year), but he has succeeded in turning this country in a new, and certainly better, direction.
Paul Ryan, however, resorted to scare tactics in an effort to turn people against Obama. I remember Republican speech writers constantly using the expression "gloom and doom" to talk about the vision of Democrats. Well, now the Republican Party is the party of gloom and doom, and Greece is its favorite bogeyman.
I learned this morning that Michelle Bachmann also gave a response. I can imagine the lies and hysteria she was pitching. The gloom and doom message probably took on an apocalyptic tone.
Personally, it' was a good speech, not one of the best, but what can you say to a room full of people who are there to be seen on camera and who will do anything to have their party in power and keep their jobs and think what they have to say is more important. He's the President - so give him that respect. This speech should be about the current state of the USA and what can be learned from the past, what are the countires hopes, and directions our "leaders" should be going to in the near future.
I thought the SOTU reflected how little control the POTUS has over the economy. There is very little he can do without Congress to address the economy & jobs, particularly in the short term.
The November election was a landslide for the Republicans because they reflected the concerns of the electorate that the main emphasis was on the growing national debt and the high unemployment rate, I feel the President failed to properly address these two issues. I feel the failure to address these two issues was the biggest disappointment of this speech. Great visions for the future is nice to hear, but at this time, with the current economic situation, I feel he missed the point.
The whole affair lacked a certain level of energy. I think it was a lot less like a campaign speech than SOTUs have been for the last 30 years. I got tired of all of the partisan cheering/standing/clapping by each "side" in the past.
I do think if the audience continues to sit intermingled and not by party it will encourage everyone to stay in their seats and have a more dignified affair. I also think it will change the way the speech is constructed.
There were not a lot of specifics on cost cuts. I believe he has finally learned that too many specifics just provide the Republicans with what they will be specifically against. Better to make a deal behind closed doors and not take too hard of position too early in negotiations.
The one thing I kept thinking was how nice it was to hear a President that spoke in a Presidential tone instead of a condescending smirk.
Your opinion of the SOU speech says more about you than about the speech.
Frosting ... a lot of words but little substance ... stop the rhetoric, speach making, and stumping ... do some real work.
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