Truth Behind SOU predictions

012610-LAH-SOU
BY LAURA HATFIELD

President Barack Obama presented three important goals to help secure the future of America in his State of the Union Speech Tuesday.

President Obama suggested innovation, education and rebuilding of infrastructure as the main goals to help the U.S. Before the president gave the State of the Union speech, I predicted his major themes would be the economy, the war and his successes. Although my predictions were mentioned in his speech they were not the sole topic of the evening.

Before getting into debate about the topics at hand, Obama addressed the shooting in Tucson. My predictions included the mention of the Tucson shooting but I thought it would lead into gun control. Instead he went in a completely different direction. As a result of the shooting, Republicans and Democrats have started working together, something Obama said will only make the country stronger.

“Amid all the noise and passion and rancor of our public debate, Tucson reminded us that no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something greater, something more consequential than party or political preference,” Obama said.

The president said by sitting together during the address it will not start a “new era of cooperation” for the Democrats and Republicans but from there it is up to them to make the changes.
“What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow,” Obama said.

Although Obama was speaking to everyone in the room, with the high percentage of unemployment most Americans are more interested in finding jobs.
Much like Acting Governor of W.Va., Earl Ray Tomblin, President Barack Obama intertwined job creation through his entire speech. Job creation was a main topic in each of the three goals mentioned.

Obama suggests competing for jobs is what Americans have to work on to help “win the future” and innovation is the first step.

“We need to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world,” Obama said. “We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business.”

Obama said he plans to reach the same level of development and research that was obtained during the Space Race. This plan also relates back to job creation.

“We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology, an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people,” Obama said.

Although job creation in general is important, without education those jobs aren’t possible.

“But if we want to win the future, if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas, then we also have to win the race to educate our kids,” Obama said.

President Obama stressed the importance of higher education for students. America ranks ninth in the world for young people who have a college degree. Obama is launching a competition called Race to the Top. Schools in all 50 states will compete with teacher quality and student retention to win money for their school.

“Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that’s more flexible and focused on what’s best for our kids,” Obama said.

To increase the amount of higher education, the president is asking Congress to make permanent tuition tax credit for $10,000 for four years worth of college.
Innovation and Education are both steps Obama said he wants to take to rebuild America, but he wants to literally rebuild America.

“To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods and information from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet, Obama said.”

Within the next 25 years Obama plans to get 80 percent of Americans access to a high-speed rail, getting people to places in half the time it would to get somewhere in a car. In the next five years Obama plans to expand wireless internet coverage to 98 percent of Americans.

Along with discussing his plans to innovate, educate and rebuild infrastructure, he also talked about his successes. Like I predicted, he discussed health care and encouraged suggestions to help better his plan. When talking about the war, Obama said no matter the race or sexuality of someone, there is no more discrimination in the military, which stemmed from Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Like I predicted, Obama made additional promises similar to the ones he made in the 2010 State of the Union address. He said they are working on a partnership with the Iraqi people along with efforts to finish bringing the troops out of Iraq.

“America’s commitment has been kept,” Obama said. “The Iraq war is coming to an end.”

President Obama said there is a lot of work ahead but he thinks innovation, education and infrastructure will be the key to job creation that will make the country better.

“From the earliest days of our founding, America has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream,” Obama said. “That’s how we win the future.”