Dissecting the State of the Union

In honor if President Obama's first State of  the Union of his second term in office I decided t o do something new as part of  this blog. I wanted to highlight some of the lines that caught my ear and a few reactions from others on Twitter. My commentary appears below the line. Also it should be mentioned that some of the folks in the gallery were wear green ribbons in remembrance of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
First I have to point  out not  one word was spoken about the mess in Bengazi which was my biggest disappointment. We haven't had an attack on an embassy in years and I would think if the President wants to quite his critics on a particular matter, he need to confront the issue, even if he spins it.


Obama: "Let’s set party interests aside and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments"

The problem with this line is there weren't any "wreck less" cuts in the first place. Democrats whine about the rich getting tax cuts, this has always been a false starter. The "rich" need to grow a pair and just say \"We don't want our taxes wasted" Government waste is rampant and I'm not talking about needed social programs or enforcement of safety regulations, I'm talking about Congressional perks and even the Congressional salaries. Obama didn't acknowledge that the go vernment DOES have a spending problem!!


Obama: "Tonight, I propose a "Fix-It-First" program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country."

One of the things people realize is moving forward requires us to  study ou\r past, not dwell but study. The a rguements for slowing down government's investments in new green technologies can be made simply be saying, "We need to fixing what we have first". Getting off fossil fuels should be  a goals of ours. We must strive to reach this goal  without rushing towards it.

Obama:"Tonight, I'm announcing a new challenge to redesign America's high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. 

Obama".....because what makes you a man isn't the ability to conceive a child; it's having the courage to raise one."

 Even Rick Santorum applauded this line: "Good line Mr. President on fathers! Thank you". Something that needs to be kept in mind though is sex education, like energy, needs to be an "all of the above" approach. Those preaching abstinence and  nothing else really don't have a clue. I pictured what a  Santorum State  of ,,the Union would be like, "no sex until your married. Oh by the way since I'm against gay marriage gay people are forbidden to have sex" Yeah right in your d reams. A positive about gay relationships is you  don't need to  worry about pregnancy. I also continue to struggle with believing gay ma rriage is the next biggest  civil rights issue. We need to encourage young people to be responsible.

 Below the excerpt of  Obama's speech  is a quote tweeted by the Center of Justice and Democracy, a patients rights group I have lobbied with down in Washington  DC. They picked out the following quote and reacted to it. This is the only reference to medical malpractice, which is very disappointing.

We’ll bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare, because our medical bills shouldn’t be based on the number of tests ordered or days spent in the hospital – they should be based on the quality of care that our seniors receive."

" In other words, reduce tests and procedures by managing care properly, not by stripping patients of their legal rights!