State of the Union

Before I vivisect tonight's presidential address, let me start by saying that Obama seems genuinely concerned for the future of the nation and troubled by recent congressional behavior. I think that some of the proposals spoken of this evening, if enacted, could easily improve the quality of living for millions of people.

With that being said, I'd like to start with a direct quote from Obama. "Let's try some common sense." Indeed, let's; for instance, how should the viewers react to the issue of education. As a current applicant to graduate schools, my mouth was watering at the proposals in the middle of the address. Some of these include abolishing taxes on student loans, issuing $10,000 tax credits to families with children in 4 year programs, increasing the value and volume of Pell grants (I have 2 right now), and allowing over one million alumni to limit their yearly loan payments to 10% of their total salaries for a maximum of 20 years after graduation. It would be an understatement to call this a vast improvement to the affordability of higher education.

There is a problem though, the president went on to explain the 3-year freeze that had been widely publicized earlier in the week. Such legislation would cut or freeze budget allocations to domestic programs. The only areas that will be not be frozen are national defense, social security, Medicare, and Medicaid. How are we supposed to expect such great changes in education if educational spending is to be frozen? Say it ain't so.

On a lighter note, Obama sent a challenge to congressional filibusterers on the topic of health care reform stating, "if anyone has a better plan for lowering premiums and bringing down the deficit, let me know." This seems to go hand in hand with the Congressional Budget Office's recently announced projections of the future economic deficit. Additionally, the Center for Economic and Policy Research released a projected budget deficit in the event of passing or denying health care legislation. The consensus seems to be that the republican response to the challenge of health care reform is either misinformed or, more likely, just plain wrong. Health care, in addition to improving the lives of millions of uninsured Americans, would reduce the severity of the current recession. I honestly hope that the republican congressmen can produce the "better plan" that Obama asked for, since the current plan looks pretty convincing.

Now I'd like to address my favorite portion of tonight's speech. The president called for a internet source that would, "publish all earmark requests on a single website, so that we can see where our money is being spent." If this legislation is enacted, without the obvious ability to be destroyed by political nomenclature chaotics, it would save me and other bloggers a huge amount of time digging up the dirt on politicians.

My final comment is the least pragmatic of my current concerns with tonight's announcements. The concern is with Obama's statement with respect to our defense policies; specifically that we should, "do what we can to ensure a better future for our citizens and for the world." I think that any forward thinking American citizens, who take this statement as seriously as I do, would first demand that we remove the United States exemption to UN Security Council article 51. This would hold the US government responsible for pre-emptive military aggression that is deemed illegal to every other participatory member of the United Nations. This will virtually never happen, but everyone needs to be aware of why the international community condemns the current US presence in Iraq.