President Obama gave his annual State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. The one thing that intrigued me was his remark that he wasn't going to list proposals in the speech, but speak to the values that should drive everything done to make this country great by allowing its people to prosper.
He gave a picture of the many positive developments that have occurred in the United States in the past decade. And he made a number of proposals, in a general sense, of fostering continued prosperity in our country, and how to make this country take on the appropriate role on the world stage.
In the Republican Response, I was immediately struck by how Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), who was only seated a couple of weeks ago, right at the start of her speech, said she wasn't going to offer a rebuttal to President Obama's address, but lay out the agenda for the Republican Congress that the people elected, an agenda which the people gave a mandate for. Of course, we have to bear in mind the Republican-controlled Congress was the result of people voting in elections in particular circumstances/localities across the United States, which resulted in the Republicans gaining control of Congress. So it's not like the electorate as a whole elected a Republican Congress. Nevertheless, her approach was good because it focused on the priorities of the electorate, and using that as a driving force, not simply partisanship. She, like President Obama, laid out a vision for how to help the people prosper.
President Obama certainly made a great number of talking points that sound good, but they don't seem consistent with the policies and style of leadership he's shown over the past six years since he became President.
Ultimately, what prosperity comes down to in this country is what he talked about at the beginning of the speech: people, like Rebekah Erler, working hard to live a good life. And the government's role should be helping to facilitate people's success, with appropriate action, not burdening overreach with policies.
Furthermore, President Obama keeps insisting that we "do it" in regard to various ideas like raising the minimum wage and providing other services, while all along, he's tried to do things too much his own way instead of engaging in the important discussions on these issues to sort through all the facets, and then the collaborative work that makes good policies to facilitate prosperity.
I was also troubled by the vision that drives him, namely in the way he lauded how the majority of states now recognize homosexual marriage, and the way he addressed abortion in his speech. But Senator Ernst laid out a vision that we should protect and defend all life, especially the most vulnerable among us.
So, as often happens in politics, there was a lot of good talk. Now, it's time for us to all come together to sort through the issues collaboratively and then take the action that will make the people of the United States prosper.
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