My Take: The State of the Union Speech

Well, he did it. The President went before the newly Republican House (and for that matter, the whole Congress), and delivered his 2011 State of the Union. All-in-all, I give the speech a "B." There were high mountains, but also low, low valleys. Let's look at the highs:

• For the first time in my lifetime, a President made EDUCATION the center-point of his State of the Union Speech, a must to move this nation forward. This to me, was the high-point.
• The President actually called for the end of subsidies to the oil industry, even going so far as to call it "yesterday's industry." He's spot on here, but will Congress act? Ending these subsidies and putting the money into alternative energy would be a huge step forward.
• The President called out the falsehood that we can just cut "discretionary, non-defense" spending, and balance the budget. Good for him for talking about deficits like an adult.
• The President gave the GOP Congress a way to be constructive on health care.
• High-speed rail, high speed internet, infrastructure spending. Beautiful. Great priorities.

Now the bad.

• If the objective in Afghanistan is to deny the Taliban and Al Qaeda a safe haven, then any guarantees to draw down in the near future would seem to be in doubt. From a pure cost standpoint, we just can't afford to do this forever. This is concerning, if not alarming.
• The Federal Budget has little in-common with household budgets. I hate when people use this rhetoric. Household budgets exist entirely to pay bills. The Federal Government's budget exists to carry out programs that are supposed to help the greater society. Totally different missions, and totally different consequences from their actions. When a household fails, it fails. When the government fails, we all suffer.

As I said, overall, good speech. I enjoyed it.