Yesterday was the third time president Obama’s held his 2012 State of the Union Address in what was the official beginning of his own election campaign for a second bid. The highlights in his speech are not necessarily new, but do account for the main bullets in his policies during the upcoming elections.
President Barack Obama started his State of the Union address by saluting the troops that returned home from Iraq and pointed out that it was the first time in nine years, there were no Americans fighting in Iraq. He continued talking about Osama bin Laden not being a threat anymore to the country. All to the extent of giving the U.S. troops as example of teamwork, the Americans should abide by.
He talked about the American dream and how to keep the dream alive. “The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive…We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by” he said.
The Tuesday night speech the president gave had also focused on economy policies. Obama vowed to restore the promise of U.S. prosperity and “fight obstruction with action” when dealing with the Congress. He talked about tax fairness and helping homeowners, taking down the financial crimes within the nation and prevent unfair trade practices in China.
On top of that he promised to continue investigating the lending practices that ended in the recent financial meltdown. Obama also called on Congress to pass the Buffett tax, saying that asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes is common sense, and not class warfare.
Obama talked about restoring “an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules”. As nice as that sounds, one cannot help to see that the president’s speech is a little bit too utopist, as popular as it is.
Finally, he emphasized that “at stake aren’t Democratic values or Republican values, but American values, and we have to reclaim them”.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels gave the Republican response, saying that “no feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry flavor with some Americans by castigating others”.
