State of The Union Address

Hopefully you all found some time to watch the President earlier this week! Or, at least found a couple of minutes to read the reports about his speech and the rebuttals from the 2 Republicans. So, what did you think?

I had class on Tuesday night, so I taped his speech. I’m so glad I did. I know that many people have found fault in Obama’s policy since he has taken office, but I continue to be happy for the most part. I was thrilled by a couple of the items in his speech in particular.

1. Education – he did a great job of really stressing the importance that we get our focus back on improving our education in the U.S. He talked about viewing our teachers as our “nation builders” and making sure that we work hard to recruit our youth into this profession. More importantly, he talked about moving beyond No Child Left Behind. Wahoo! That was very exciting to hear! I know that NCLB was instrumental in moving us forward in educational improvements in this nation, but it has been clearly flawed on many levels. I have always found the title to be such an oxymoron since my experience with NCLB is more of a leaving a child behind concept than actually bringing our kids up to speed. So, I’m excited to see a focus on this.

2. Improving Infrastructure – I’m thrilled to hear him talk about improving the infrastructure of our nation. We are definitely being left behind in the dust when it comes to basic technology. I just found out recently that several of the farm agencies we are working with in Iowa are actually operating on 1990 IBM computers! Geesh – barely beyond card readers at that point. How can we compete on a global level if we can’t even bring our own government agencies into the correct century when it comes to technology?

3. Reducing Incentives for Oil – I think I shouted for joy when he made this statement! Yes, I’m biased. I work for the ethanol industry. But, I’ve learned a lot the past year about the impact of foreign oil on our nation. The ethanol industry just went through a significant battle to have one of its incentives continued for another year. I’m thrilled that Big Oil will have its federal incentives reviewed in the same light. I feel strongly that we need to support all industry that moves us beyond foreign involvement with the oil companies. I have a 17-year-old son and I’m scared to think he may someday be fighting in a war just so I can drive my car to work every day.

Now, I wasn’t happy with his entire speech. I think anyone who says they are would be lying – or would be admitting that they didn’t listen. I’m not that thrilled to hear that he is opening the door on his health care reform bill so it can be picked apart by our current congress. I believe in fixing issues, just like Obama said, but I’m very nervous about what that type of a review will bring about. I hate to take too many steps backward in this fight to improve our healthcare industry in the U.S.

What makes me most happy, though, is to see that our elected officials made a symbolic gesture toward working together by sitting outside of their normal party lines. I think we are all tired of the fighting and the bullying. But, I believe the President said it best when he stressed that constructive arguments and discussions are what makes our country so great. So, I’m looking forward to the year to see how we all move our discussions from less yelling and bickering to more worthwhile and meaningful talks. So, please keep this in mind if you choose to bash my views in this post – ha ha!