State of the Union: Obama 2.0? or Why Our Country is Screwing Itself.
Amber Reed
Undergraduate/Creative Writing
Oh, politics; we love ‘em, we hate ‘em, we distrust the players, and we can’t figure out how to live with ‘em, but we don’t know how to live without ‘em. Between November of ’08 and now there have been some pretty heated battles in our country concerning politics and the American peoples’ ideas of what politics are and how they should work within our government. And a lot of these battles have done absolutely nothing to change our government for the better.
Last night (1/27) was President Obama’s second State of the Union address to the nation. Needless to say, mixed opinions, emotions, criticisms and praise flared up everywhere. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always found Obama to be a great speaker. His oratory skill has always been above par compared to many other politicians and is probably one very large reason we saw him get elected. However, though he’s always been great at talking a big game, I have yet to see him play one. Perhaps after the second time around, where Obama promises to grow a back bone and stop trying to make all the politicians happy and make the American people happy instead, will hold water. But who knows. On this count I am a skeptic. We’ve heard almost all of this before, so I think it would be very easy to be cynical about this speech. I for one am weary, but still hopeful that Obama can find a way to get something done in his time in office.
Now to comment on things that Obama said, and how people responded. Obama stated that “neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can.” Now, I don’t know who could be angry at that, it’s just the truth. Any group that does that are just being sore losers and aren’t getting anything positive accomplished for the country. And the only people who were mad were the conservatives, because they’re the ones that have been doing exactly that for the past year. Maybe they will understand how stupid they’ve looked for doing it now, and perhaps something real with happen in our government.
Obama also said that saying ‘no’ over and over again to all suggestions from another party is not leadership. Those who fought this idea said that saying ‘no’ to bad ideas IS leadership. Well, I suppose that would be true, if there were a real reason why those ideas were deemed “bad.” Because I think that saying ‘no’ to any idea that wasn’t your party’s or that you don’t 100% agree with while not providing any ideas of your own is anything but leadership. The idea is to do what’s right for the American people, not to hold grudges and leave our government stagnant as we wait for someone to make a compromise.
And speaking of compromises, the liberals have done everything they can to compromise when it comes to health care, which is one of the biggest things that has been dragged through the mud in the fiasco we’ve been calling our government. The health care bill has been watered down so much to try and get conservatives on board for a change in the system that needs to happen that it’s almost non-existent anymore. And even though the bill has been extremely bastardized to make the conservatives happy, they still aren’t. They’re still fighting it because it wasn’t their idea. It was their presidential candidate that made the suggestion, it wasn’t their party that drafted it, and so they aren’t going to support it. It’s situations like this that prove a two-party system is what is running this country into the ground.
Partisanship is ruining any potential the US had for being a successful country for years and years to come. The reason nothing is getting done for the American people is because the president will always belong to one of the two parties, and therefore, one of the two parties will always be sulking and denying change and advancement. So if fingers are going to be pointed, we need to point all our fingers. We can’t sit around and blame only the president for making promises and saying a lot of good things that never happen, because these things aren’t happening because the politicians that work for our two-party system aren’t letting them happen. Everyone is to blame, and thinking otherwise is ignorant. The selfish interests of the players in our government aren’t doing anything progressive or positive for the American people, the people that they are supposed to be the voice for. United we stand, my ass.
So, to even begin to see changes, the parties are both going to need to start taking one for the team. If the ideas are there, if the means to make progress and positive change are there, why not get the changes made? I want to see our government start working together, even if everyone has different ideas, making progress for the sake of the American people is worth giving a few things up for. If nothing changes, our country remains stagnant in a poor economy and progress can never happen. We need to get rid of the idea that, in government, every action one party makes deserves a reaction from the other. If one side makes a move, the other feels the need to counter balance. The parties are in a constant state of tug-of-war, and the American people are suffering the consequences. Perhaps Obama’s speech will get these changes in motion this time, and maybe they won’t, and then we’ll have to find someone else who might be able to give the Democrats and the Republicans a swift kick in the ass and get make them to start playing together civilly and acting like grownups. Divided we fall, indeed.