On January 12, President Obama delivered his final State of the Union Address. He focused on what the United States can achieve in the future, with four major issues driving his speech: the economy, technological innovations (including clean energy), maintaining national security (especially as it relates to situations abroad), and the political atmosphere.
I was kind of surprised when I found out about a month ahead of time that the speech was scheduled for January 12. Usually, it happens much later in January, and has even happened in February.
President Obama made a lot of remarks that sounded good, befitting his style of being a speaker who likes to captivate people with ideas that sound great, as Governor Nikki Haley indicated in the Republican Response to the State of the Union. One example is when he discussed the economy, and the idea of creating an economic environment in which the middle-class flourishes and wealthy interests don't bully the lesser people around. He even made clean-energy proposals sound fantastic, and seem like the proper way to address climate change.
But my concern is that like what has happened in the past, this is just that--a speech, which he puts so much emphasis on, rather than the hard work of sorting through the issues, especially through meaningful dialogue, at hand to create substantial resolutions.
He claims that the Affordable Care Act has helped so many, but not acknowledging the need to address problems it still has, which has made it a burden for people.
He also assailed climate change deniers as people who "will be pretty lonely". He didn't even try to dialogue with them about the concerns they have deep-down. Indeed, the whole speech lacked any sense of dialogue. He masked real problems underneath a guise of how great everything is about America, and how great everything is going, and how we should press forth to do great things. Even his tone seemed so emphatic in this regard. I will say, though, that he made a valid point about America being a great nation, especially in regards to its military might, which no other nation dare challenge.
Honestly, I feel one of the biggest problems the United States is facing currently is a toxic political environment, which puts people at odds with one another, and causes them to talk past one another, so that it's a challenge to accomplish things. Certainly the mainstream media's portrayal of this situation only exacerbates it. President Obama called for greater decency in the political process. I was pleased to here him call for changing the way legislative districts are drawn every ten years as part of changing the system.
Governor Haley also addressed the broken political system in her remarks, and called for the need to fix it, not necessarily stating how--thus I say the two sides talk past each other. But overall, I found her tone so refreshing in her short address in comparison to President Obama. And I think that shined most clearly when she talked about the shooting tragedy at Mother Emmanuel AME Church last June, and the response that followed. There were no riots that pitted people against each other. In the midst of a heart-wrenching tragedy, people came together and embraced the values that keep us close, and especially faith in God.
Certainly we have noble values woven into our national character, that calls for respecting people and a society where all live freely. President Obama called for this kind of decent behavior especially toward Muslims, that they not be assailed for their religion. But what concerns me greatly is that his administration has certainly not been kind to Christians who seek to live out their faith, instead pressuring those who support life from the moment of conception and marriage as a union between one man and one woman. And ultimately, faith in God is what leads us to true freedom, for God makes us free.
As we go forth into the future, which shall bring us a new President less than a year from this date, we should recognize that while the United States is a great nation that stands out among the nations of the Earth, it's not all about being the greatest. It's about acknowledging our weaknesses and seeking to be a righteous nation in all the Earth, drawing upon the strengths we have to truly foster an environment in which all flourish and live freely.
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