The Philippine Online Chronicles

In his first State of the Union speech on Jan. 28, President Barack Obama expressed  firm defiance of the setbacks that hounded his first year in office. Addressing fellow Democrats, Republicans and millions of people not limited to American citizenship, Obama stood his ground on his pursuit of unity and change amidst “massive fiscal hole,” doubts, and criticisms.

“Reform over status quo” encapsulates much of Obama’s one-hour speech, where he reiterated that he cannot turn his back on the people even if success is not immediately realized. He admitted that a year after being welcomed into the presidency by wars, financial meltdown, and government in deep debt, the impact of the recession still lingers.

In his first State of the Union speech on Jan. 28, President Barack Obama expressed firm defiance of the setbacks that hounded his first year in office. Addressing fellow Democrats, Republicans and millions of people not limited to American citizenship, Obama stood his ground on his pursuit of unity and change amidst “massive fiscal hole,” doubts, and criticisms.

“Reform over status quo” encapsulates much of Obama’s one-hour speech, where he reiterated that he cannot turn his back on the people even if success is not immediately realized. He admitted that a year after being welcomed into the presidency by wars, financial meltdown, and government in deep debt, the impact of the recession still lingers.

Top initiatives to combat the American families’ worsening  burden of “working harder and longer for less, of being unable to save enough to retire or help kids with college” would include job generation in 2010, tax cuts, the Recovery Act, small business financing, clean energy production, the Healthcare bill, and educational reform.

“So I know the anxieties that are out there right now. They’re not new. These struggles are the reason I ran for president. . . I hear about them in letters that I read each night. The toughest to read are those written by children asking why they have to move from their home, or when their mom or dad will be able to go back to work.”

Rescuing the jobless

Job generation was a primary concern.

His proposal to impose bank fees on America’s biggest banks despite indications of resistance by Wall Street prompted a standing ovation from Democrat colleagues and passive appreciation from Republicans.

“But if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.”

Government subsidy on Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) increased unemployment benefits and reduced health insurance cost by 65 percent for families who get their coverage through the bill. COBRA was made effective on March 2009 for workers who were laid-off between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. Under this, former employees, spouses, and dependent children can continue the group health insurance previously provided by an employer at an affordable rate.

Tax cuts were also implemented for 95 percent of working families, small businesses, first-time homebuyers, parents trying to make ends meet for their children, and eight million Americans paying for college.

According to Obama, the Recovery Act, otherwise known as the Economic Stimulus Package, was acknowledged by economists to have helped prevent more Americans from becoming unemployed. But as he put it, stories of ordinary Americans who were able to add two more shifts to his business and a single parent who retained her job as teacher were better indications that the measure was serving its purpose.

New jobs are created through business, he said. This is where the government can devise conditions that could make business ventures and expantions favorable to more people seeking employment.

“We should start where most new jobs do—in small business, companies that begin when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream or a worker decides it is time she became her own boss.”

Only, these small businesses are faced with difficulties of acquiring financial assistance, particularly from banks on Wall Street that lend mostly to bigger companies. In this regard, he proposed that US$30 billion (P1.4 trillion) of the money repaid by Wall Street banks be channeled to providing small businesses credit and abolish all capital gains taxes on these businesses to pave the way for them to hire more workers or raise wages and capitalize more on new plants and equipment.

Greening America

Obama called for the production of clean energy facilities that could accommodate more workers and give rebates to households that use energy efficient utilities, which in turn supports clean energy jobs.

"Our nation has always been built to compete. There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products.”

More technological innovations were encouraged, investing in research to develop what could possibly be the world’s cheapest solar cells or cancer treatment that leaves health cells unharmed. This, according to Obama, could create more than a thousand jobs nationwide.

In this regard, Obama looks forward to a clean energy economy, in response to the rising alarm of climate change, through the passing of a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that could open “new offshore areas for oil and gas development and continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies” as alternative sources of energy.

Obama also acceded to the people’s fading enthusiasm toward the change that won him the seat, when people were not properly informed of the government’s plans that “left most Americans wondering what’s in it for them.”

He also discussed the government’s  one-year deficit that amounted to over US$1 trillion (P46.7 trillion) and expected deficit that could reach US$8 trillion (P373.6 trillion) in the next decade. In order to recompense the $1 trillion spent to rescue the American economy, he declared preparation to freezing government spending for three years beginning 2011, with a few exceptions.

“Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will not be affected. . . Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t. And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will,” Obama said.

Avoiding the 'Washington gimmick'

He was also keen on founding a bipartisan fiscal commission, the creation of which was earlier blocked by the Senate. Obama said that the commission cannot be a mere  “Washington gimmick” that poses non-existent solutions to problems. He would, therefore, issue an executive order to go forth amidst the obstruction of the bill that would give birth to the said commission.

“But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is election day. We cannot wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to seee who can get the most embarrassing headlines about their opponent—a belief that if you lose, I win. Neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can.”

Revitalized security measures

On the government’s renewed perspective in forestalling terrorism, Obama proclaimed that substantial investments in their country’s security have been made and that in 2009, hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters, affiliates, and senior leaders had been captured or killed—a record that knocked down the last year of Bush administration’s feat on the war on terror.

One promise he made as a candidate was to end the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. As president, he is increasing American troops in these troubled lands. Part of the troops’ mission is to train the Afghan Security Forces to be ready to take the lead on July 2011. He then vowed to pull all the combat troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and start sending them home by August of the year.

He also set out plans for the coming nuclear security summit in April. Here, 44 countries will gather to direct efforts in “securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years, so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists.”

For a president whose ascent to position was received by international strife, laying out proposals mostly leaning on domestic agendas may come as a surprise. And while “critics think of him as weak... who wants to offer rogue nations tea and sympathy,” Obama has three more years to mobilize America and the world nearer into one utopian unity.

Photo: "Watching Obama deliver the State of the Union Address at Tommy's Joynt in San Francisco" by Steve Rhodes, c/o Flickr. Some rights reserved.