Wednesday, January 27, 2010

American Government 1/27/10

In Class - Continue to work in groups on mini project (random sample/public opinion). 100 responses are due by Monday, February 1. Also, President Obama's State of the Union Address is tonight at 6:00 pm on any station (not really, but most).

Homework - QOW prediction of what Obama will cover in his speech is due before the speech actually begins (so by 6:00 pm). Watch President Obama's State of the Union Address. You might want to take down a few notes. Also, be sure to watch the Republican response to Obama's State of the Union. For the second part of the QOW, POST YOUR COMMENT ON THIS POSTING DATE (1/27). Be sure to follow the criteria listed from the posting on 1/26. The second part of the this week's QOW is due by Monday, February 1 by 11:59 pm.

In Case you missed it, here are the video links:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6149436n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea - SOTU
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6149168n&tag=related;photovideo - Republican response

30 comments:

OrionPax said...

Here are the reforms he proposed:
Economy
* Heavy fee on banks
* Recovery Act
* Job creation / Bill
-Start in small businesses
* 30 bil. to help community banks to keep small businesses afloat
* Small business tax credit
* eliminate capital gains taxes
* help build country infrastructure
* slash tax rates to keep businesses in the States
* House has passed Jobs bill to keep it in line
* restore 1990’s ‘pay-as-you-go’
* address previous problems in growth in economy
- financial reform bill
- encourage innovation (clean energy, scientific progress)
- export more goods
- invest in skills and education of people
- bill that revitalizes community colleges
- relieve burden on middle class families
Healthcare/Government
* puts healthcare on backburner-but still working on it
* 2011 freeze govt. spending for 3 years
* eliminate programs we can’t afford and don’t work
* publish earmark requests before vote
* change in senate (?)
* monthly meetings w/ Republicans + Democrats
* reform airline security (in regards to Christmas day bomber)
* End war
* help support troops when they come home (Veteran Investment, New GI Bill)
* reduce nuclear weapons stores
* Fight aids and bioterrorism
* Haiti recovery
* drive out hate crimes/induce gay rights/women get equal pay/fix immigration system

My Response to the Speech
For most of what Obama has said, I agree. I think we really do need to take out outdated programs we can’t afford anymore. The national alertness system is definitely one of them. I think it is utterly useless; or at the very least, we should reformat it to give more information on what we need to do. The Death Clock (doomsday clock?) is also a little too imposing for times like this. They need to just totally get rid of that, also. Obama is definitely taking the necessary steps to rebuild our nation. How long it will take to actually initiate these reforms is anybody’s guess. He is still kind of a new president, so I don’t think he’ll get it all done. Most of it, definitely, and hopefully on the most important things. Jobs are definitely top priority.

Republican Response- My response
Appears they approve the jobs bill. In the first three minutes or so, they seem to approve of a lot of what the president has said. They encourage the reforms Obama wants to set up in order to get out of our debt. They hope to change health care without driving up the prices. Agree on the fact that we need to be energy independent. Kudos to offshore oil wells and natural gas. They want the new energy to create more jobs. Agree in education reforms. Addressed children as ‘her’; is there a possible non-discrimination against women’s higher education coming along? They applaud Obama sending the 30k troops, since it’s going to ‘help national security’. Yes, I was typing this out while watching the State of the Union.
Katie S. Per.2

Fidencio Romero said...

President Obama gave a great speech about how he is going to improve the United States. Obama talked about helping the economy by helping small business. Which I didn’t know took a big part in the economy. He also said he wants to tax the banks that we helped get out of debt. That way we can recover some of our tax dollars that went to help banks. Which I agree because they are giving out big bonus. Obama mentioned the healthcare, to help out the people that need it. He wants to stop spending government money on small things that are not needed. Also to freeze the government for 3 years. One thing he mentioned was about the democrat’s and republicans to help the people not to help their political party. Helping out college students by making it affordable to them, to improve education. Also by giving 10,000 dollars to students to be able to attend college. He mentioned sending the 30,000 troops to end the war. Last but not least he talked about the civil rights.

The republicans don’t really agree with alot of Obamas speech. Though one thing they do agree on is to send the 30,000 troops to end the war. Also they said to not tax the business because it will hurt the middle class. The republicans also mentioned to improve healthcare by making it more stable to the people but by not giving it to them. They want to improve the energy resources by different alternatives. This can also create new jobs to people that are unemployed. One thing he mentioned was to help the education but by not by your zip code. They also said that there bills aren’t a 100 pages long. Overall the republicans really want to help the economy by providing jobs. Though they don’t want to tax business.

Fidencio Romero Per.4

brenda g 106 said...

President Obama addressed the following:
tax cuts on small business
a new job bill
natural energy jobs/ investments
tax cuts to job in America
the wait for change, that Washington has told us to wait
taxes on big big business
financial reform
an energy bill
exporting more goods
reforming defensive measure
trade relations
education and school reform
supporting college students helping them by cutting debt so that it isn't following them
affording new homes
health care reform

Obama's speech has really brightened up my hope on our economy and even the war. WIth the ideas he has spoken of I think that America can manage the two wars and bring America back to life. His speech had a little bit of everything in it. The major topics and topics needing attention. I really hope that he can make enough noticeable improvements.

The Republicans disagrees on Mr. Obama's plan saying that he has too many plans he intends to do. The party wants him to listen to the American public. The party does agree with the idea of harnessing natural resources. The Democratic party however is delaying on acting. Rewarding for good school achievement. The support for 30,000 more troops is a go and helping Haiti is also a go.

Sorry I keep forgetting to type period 2.

Arabian Gangsta said...

wow some people really typed lol. anyway.I think his speech was really good, I mean its his first year in the office, he did a pretty good job. Also i realized his speech was like saying sorry in a way. He is a wonderful speech giver. I don't think the republican side liked it. I read some comments on the video you posted, every republican was hating on him, but i don't think he cares.

Leo said...

Well I really did not understand that much, but on what I did and heard other people talk about it. That President Obama did I great speech. I like the way how he talk about the economy first, that he wants to fix it. That he want to get money from the banks. He talk about the healthcare that he want to help the people that it need it. I also like the way how he want to help the student by given then money for college. I also like the way how Obama want to finish with the war by sending 30,000 more troops. I saw that the republicans the democrats it hard to those two groups agree on something. Well that my oppinion on Obamas speech.
Leobardo Cabanas per.4

Davion B. said...

Here are a list of things he talked about in "The State of The Union Speech".

-Recovery Act(Stimulus Bill) 2010
-Job Creation Bill
-Export more goods(Double Exports)
-Next 5 years allow 2 million jobs
-Healtcare on Hold for a while
-10% of income for college
-Loans forgiving after 20 Years
-Health Insurance reform
-Freeze government spending 3years
-Tax cuts for companies
-Troops out of Iraq by this fall
-More than 10,000 people help haiti
-Small buisness tax cuts
(There were many more i just couldnt write them all down sorry)

Response to Speech
- I think President Obama brought up alot of good points in his State of the Union Speech. Im glad he talked about the economy because its really affecting everyone. I was so happy when he said he was going to do a jobs bill for 2010 to help many people get jobs this year. The other thing i liked was when he said they were bring the troops out of iraq by fall. So hopefully when they come back home they can find a job and support themselves from this so called "Jobs Bill". Overall it was a encouraging and great speech from the president.

Republican Response
-I dont believe they really agreed on anything Obama was saying which is okay. Atleast they can agree to disagree. They wouldnt even stand up and clap when President Obama made a great point. They agree on getting americans more jobs but dont agree on all the tax cuts. They also agree on healthcare. Hopefully they can all work together and get this economy back to where it was 8 years ago.

KiMbErLyFaRiAs said...

President Obama gave a speech about the following: creating more jobs. Have the banks that were bailed out pay a fee towards the bail out. He said that the banks have to payback the taxpayers. He wants the job bill to pass. The President wants to give 30 billion dollars for banks to give to small buisinesses. He wants to focus on education and the cost of it. He wants to freeze government spending for 3 years. He wants to end the war. He wants to enforce immigration laws. I wanted him to talk more about immigration because the outcome will affect me.

Kimberly Becerra said...

On the State Of Union speech presented by Obama was very interesting. Obama talked about jobs, taxes, investments in the economy, national security, child obesity, budget deficit and healthcare. I thought Obamas priority to was going to be healthcare. He talked mostly about jobs because so many people don’t have a job. He said if you wanted as good job you have to have a good education. I belief it’s true you can’t get no where without an education. Obamas focus now is the economy and not healthcare. He wants to run the government more officially, he wants to cut taxes and change the economy. Some of his solutions include financial reform, protection towards the economy, coverage and his goal is to provide more than 2,000,000 jobs. Obamas main points were jobs with shutter decline and Americans future. Also the war ending and sending all the troops home, he also stated that the troops have all our respect and we need to support them when they come home. Obama also wants to initiate on terrorism, strengthen our laws for protection.
The republican response to Obamas speech was interesting. The speaker was Bob McDonnell from Richmond Virginia. He was stating the loss off jobs that 1/10 are unemployed, that new jobs should be created. He also responded to Obamas ideas about uniting nations and deficit spending.

cory909 said...

Obama's reforms that he proposed were about the bank industy, small business tax and job creation bill and many others. He explained how the most important thing was to get new jobs out there. And with most of the things that Obama said i agree with because once we have more jobs people can get on their feet and we can start to improve the economy. I also agree with what Obama said about taxing the banks. All in all i think that Obamas speech was good and that he made great points.
Corina c.
Per.4

*julie* said...

as i watched the state of the union adress i thought obama gave an excellent speech.i love the way he presents himself in a strong,educated,respectful way.i thought his main focus would be the health care industry and am not saying it wasent but he talked mostly about unemployment.he talked about education wich i thought was very importan because i feel like our current education system is not really teaching us anything. i feel like schools need more hands on activites in class that way teachers dont just talk and talk and talk about something, they should actually get up and show us...motivate us.he talked about tax cuts and the recovery act,about the war and haiti.i also noticed who ther republicans were in the crowd because only the democrats would stand up and applaud. i think the republicans did not like some of the things the president said. they did applaud when the president said that he was still going to send the additonal 30 thousand troops. its amazing to see how everyone thinks and their way of viewing certain situations. all in all i thought his speech was very well delivered.cudos to obama for facing a tough crowd =)

<3 julie monroy<3.....per. 4

gabby. said...

Are we suppose to write as much as the first person who responded to this?! Anyway I'll keeep this short. President Obama spoke about tons of things, but the few things I was looking forward to is Health Care, The economy, The war, and of course Haiti. Overall, I thought that Obama's speech was great! He spoke with a very assurantg tone, it was almost comforting knowing that were eventually going to get out of this situation were in, with the economy and all. The one thing I wasn't really expecting him to talk about but I'm very glad he did is, helping out college students. This will hopefully benefit me this year, when I head of to school. I hope he adresses this issue more sooner than later. I'm glad he talked about the division betweeen the republican and democrat parties. His speech was great, Now all I hope for is that he turns his words into actions.
The republican response speech wasn't so interesting to me. All they do is pretty much disagree with about 80% of what the president says. They also don't want the businesses to have an increase in taxes, which is absurd. Some big businesses make a lot of money and not only that but some of the CEO's get a ridiculous amount of money with their bonuses. It's just not fair and it's not right. That's all I've got to say about the response.
Gabby Cervantes
period.2

AmberK said...

I Think President Obama's State Of Union speech answered alot of questions that people have been wondering about. He talked about jobs, health care, the economy, Afghanistan, and many other things. I thought the president's focus was going to be on the war in Afghanistan, but instead he turned to creating more jobs in our economy as the main priority. Obamas focus now is the economy and not healthcare.

Anonymous said...

In the state of union speech President Obama gave last week he mentioned lots of issues the U.S. is facing today for example jobs, economy, healthcare, more exports, and more.. Obama’s biggest issue sounded like it was jobs and the economy. He mentioned many different ways he is trying to attack these issues. I think the ideas he had in mind were great and I hope he follows up with his word so this economy gets better soon, but I understand “Change” takes time. He did talk about Healthcare but didn’t mention it as much as he did the economy. Overall, his speech wasn’t boring to me and caught my attention. I liked many of the plans Obama has for this year and the next up coming years. The republican’s response wasn’t that pleasing. They didn’t agree with much of the plans Obama had to try and better the economy, but that isn’t surprising. All we can do is hope for all of these issues get better and not worse.
Tony Chavez
Period 2

SLacy222 said...

In the State of the Union Address, President Obama proposed many incentives on how he was going to is going to reboot the United States of America ,but his main focus for 2010 is job creation which is great because we need to employ our country right now. He also is going to cut taxes to 95% of working families and help out small businesses with a $30 billion dollar loan out to all small businesses. Also, he is going to reform education and also make health care available for everyone to obtain. The republicans disagree with his plans because they think he has too many plans to work on in a year and they just think he can't do it. Mr. Obama has a fresh new start this year and he hopefully he will achieve his promises.

Shawn Lacy
P.2

Missa.. said...

In Obamas state of the union speech he talked about jobs, the economy, healthcare , and the war in Afghanistan. He had things to say about Haiti and trying to better our economy. I think that Obama had a great speech. Personally I think he gives great speeches.One of the many things that President Obama talked about was helping out the small businesses.Another thing that the president wants to do is stop wasting money in unecessary things. When we could be using the governments money for better use. For example the economy. He wants to tax the banks to get us out of dept. He also talked about giving money for students to attend college and talked about sending about 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to end the war.
Melissa Ortega
Period 4

LizzieG4 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LizzieG4 said...

In the "State of the Union Speech" President Obama stated goals for America which i thought was great. For Example, he talked a lot about his biggest concern; the economy and the lack of jobs. He wants to pass the job creation bill. He also has a goal of making 2,000,000 jobs available for us. He wants to put Health Care on hold for now and i think thats a great idea because Obama has so much on his plate right now and its good that he is taking on one thing at a time. He also restated his goal on having the troops back home by next fall. It would be great if he succeeds in everything he is planning! I really respect that he is trying to help college students by reducing their debt. Obama mentioned how much we have helped Haiti as well. Obama has lots of issues he inherited and i hope he accompishes all his goals.

Anonymous said...

Address

Overall the speech was pretty moving. He mention his plan for this year and what he's already done last year. He covered pretty much everything health care reform, saving the economy,the war ending, securing immigration and nuclear peace. He also seemed to understand that many Americans aren't trusting or believe in the US government. He said he doesn't blame us for it and the party's should get along if they want things done. He has past and wants to pass many bills and taxes but doesn't have the full support because there to busy arguing and he wanted people to understand that it needs to change if were going to change. The president talked about education and how the government should help students out. One thing i was pleased to here is that he's going to freeze government spending in 2011 and by the end of his office he would have every troop out of Afghanistan. Overall I thought that it was a great speech and was very motivating, but it was only a speech. Well see what is really accomplished this year. I understand that things take time and i believe the citizens should all support there president. Even if you like him or not.


Republican response

I thought the other sides response was pretty close to what Obama was wanting. I don't understand why they can't get along. Maybe there just bitter. They seem to be seeing eye to eye on the war plans. They are upset that there proposal for health care isn't wanted. They also support the importance of the economy recovering, but they seem to say that all the presidents spending on job bail bills isn't working. I think if they let the president do his job and they start supporting what he's doing the US will recover faster.

Kenton Goodburn P 4

LyDia:) said...

In his address Obama clarified much of what he wants to do to progress this job loss epidemic. I agree with his intentions of wanting to create nuclear bio plants to help our planet. In addition, it would create jobs what we desperately need right now while benefiting our environment. Apart from that, the thing that caught my attention the most was his focus on education. Stating the possibility of not having to pay back loans and finally saying that just because one wants to go to college doesn’t mean they should go broke. He covered the health care bill slightly, but his main focal point was realistically answering all the questions about the economy.

LYDIA

kaitlyn_m said...

Obama opened his speech by explaining that our progress as a nation is not inevitable, but comes about because we move forward together as a nation. He then went on to explain that we acted on the terrorist attack and are now in two wars, and many people are jobless. He believes that we need to unite and work through our differences. We need a government that embodies the people’s strength. We were unified in the bank crisis, and he wants a fee placed upon the biggest banks in hopes that it will help stabilize the financial system and help those who need jobs and health insurance. He wants us to use energy efficiently and create clean energy, and in doing so will hopefully create more jobs. He also wants to give tax breaks to companies that are giving jobs to Americans. He wants us to be the leaders of clean energy in order to lead the global economy. Obama also believes that we need to export more goods, so more jobs will be opened, and plans to double exports in the next five years. He stated that the best anti poverty is a world-class education, and wants to pass a bill that will revitalize community colleges. He also wants to forgive some debt of the students so they don’t go bankrupt for attending college. He hopes the health care reform will reduce our deficit. He also wants to regain the public’s trust by showing the American people how their money is being spent. But none of this will occur with our nation divided, because the republicans don’t agree with what he says. He wants monthly meetings with both republican and democrat leaders in hopes of uniting us. Obama wants regional peace and prosperity. He wants the war over and our troops home, and also wants gays to be allowed to fight. He wants us to have American values not divided values; he wants change. The republicans believed our top priority should be for us to have jobs available for Americans, and that a good government policy should spur growth and create jobs. We do not need added taxation, it only kills jobs and hurts the middle class more.
Last year we were told this excessive spending would help create jobs, but even more have been lost and the spending isn’t intended to stop any time soon. They said the people need the government leaders to listen. The republicans also agree that we need reform in our health care system but they wish to do so without hurting the middle class more by making them pay for themselves and those who cant afford it through taxation. They believe that by using our natural recourses our utility bills will be lowered. They agree with Obama that the kids need a good education to succeed, and they are very grateful for men and women in uniform. They agree we need a victory in these wars to ensure our national safety. They think we are generous for helping Haiti. The closing statement he gave was that a government that is closest to the people governs best, we are trailblazers and liberty and propriety is valued and respected. I believe that Obama had nice ideas that simply are going to hurt us in reality. In our economy we do not need to be taxing the middle class in order to pay for health care and other issues because it only hurts them more than it helps. If he wants us to be unified he needs to realize that he can’t force us to all think like him. He speaks of change yet he isn’t willing to bend on his ideas so why should the republicans if we believe what he is doing is wrong. We are in many circuses but he can’t keep blaming it on the Bush administration, he has been President for a year and needs to own up to the fact that he has hurt us as well. It is the Obama administration now and he hasn’t accomplished anything yet. The ideas he brought up were fine but unrealistic if he really wishes to help the people.

Kaitlyn Morales
period 4

arisbel said...

State of union response
In the state of union speech Obama states of whats going on with america.He first talks about how that there is going to be plenty more jobs.He also talks about that the taxes are going to increase.And finally he states the economy crisis.In like 30 mintues into the speech he states that if the healht care bill should pass.He also talks about how many troops are going to take to afghanistan.He talks about the new plan that will create jobs for our economy.I thought that he would talk more about the health care but instead he talks more about unemployment issues.Over all it was a good speech i learned more about what was going on.It was a good speech.
Arisbel miranda per-4

a said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
a said...

I thought Obama’s speech was really well put and very interesting. He really got and kept my attention. I think he is a very strong speech giver. He gave everyone more hope and I thought it was a great way to start the new year! He pretty much talked about everything I assumed he was going to and more. He opened up by giving a strong speech on the economy and his plans on how to fix it and to create more jobs for people and to help the small businesses too, he also mentioned cutting our taxes. He talked about many other things also like health care, ending the war and pulling our troops back by 2011, and also he mentioned some things about Haiti. He brought up a lot of things in his speech but he focused mainly on the economy and creating more jobs for our people and I thought that it was a very good idea. During his speech you could defiantly tell who was a republican, it was obvious. They disagreed with Obama probably because they think he was way too many plans for this year and they think he won’t be able to get them done.
Amy On
Period 4

bRiDgEt said...

State of the Union Response
President Obama gave a good and interesting speech. He talked about his goals and plans for the year of 2010. In the state of the union speech Obama first stated the most important issue,which was jobs. He said that he was going to help create more jobs for those that have lost theirs. By building power plants. He also talked about the bank bailout. How the money given form the big business will go to help out small businesses,and maybe that will help the small business improve. Next he talks about our economic reforms. Which first was the financial reform which he asked the congress. So if they come up with a financial reform bill he will look over it. He also talk about the clean energy and the oil. He stated a bill that will be passed on clean energy. Then he said that we need to be exporting more goods. He said that if we do that,our exportation rate will improve. He also talked about education. Which was the renewal of the Education Act.Obama said that we need to invest more money in school because that is what is really important for the feature generation. So the next generation will have a better life. He mentioned that he wants to help out college students by making it affordable for them to attend and apply to have a better education. The one subject that we all thought he will talk a lot was Health Care. Which he went over it briefly. He said that we all need health care. That we need to make it affordable for small business to be able to get it and for those that really need it and can't have it. Then at the end he said that if any political party had a good plan for the health care he would pay close attention and look over it with them. Then he says how both political parties need to work together and leave behind their difference. Because they need to work together to help us the people out. He asks for bipartisanship. Which the both parties try to work together and not make difference for what they stand up for. He wants the congress to put aside differences and work together. From their he goes and talk about the war in Afghanistan. He knows that we have send 30,000 troops, however they were send to for security in Afghanistan. Then he said that he will try to bring them back. Then last he talked about human rights. How women have to be treated equally. Then at the very end he talked about the immigration laws.

Republican Response
The republican response speech wasn't so interesting to me especially since they mostly disagree on half of what Obama said. However it seems like if they want to change health care. But with out making the prices of taxes or something else to go higher. They also agree on making new power plants,and for that to create more jobs. They also agree on the education. Also on sending more troops to help our security. Then they said no to tax the big business. They really didn't say as much as i expected.

Bridget Fuentes
Period 2

bRiDgEt said...

State of the Union Response
President Obama gave a good and interesting speech. He talked about his goals and plans for the year of 2010. In the state of the union speech Obama first stated the most important issue,which was jobs. He said that he was going to help create more jobs for those that have lost theirs. By building power plants. He also talked about the bank bailout. How the money given form the big business will go to help out small businesses,and maybe that will help the small business improve. Next he talks about our economic reforms. Which first was the financial reform which he asked the congress. So if they come up with a financial reform bill he will look over it. He also talk about the clean energy and the oil. He stated a bill that will be passed on clean energy. Then he said that we need to be exporting more goods. He said that if we do that,our exportation rate will improve. He also talked about education. Which was the renewal of the Education Act.Obama said that we need to invest more money in school because that is what is really important for the feature generation. So the next generation will have a better life. He mentioned that he wants to help out college students by making it affordable for them to attend and apply to have a better education. The one subject that we all thought he will talk a lot was Health Care. Which he went over it briefly. He said that we all need health care. That we need to make it affordable for small business to be able to get it and for those that really need it and can't have it. Then at the end he said that if any political party had a good plan for the health care he would pay close attention and look over it with them. Then he says how both political parties need to work together and leave behind their difference. Because they need to work together to help us the people out. He asks for bipartisanship. Which the both parties try to work together and not make difference for what they stand up for. He wants the congress to put aside differences and work together. From their he goes and talk about the war in Afghanistan. He knows that we have send 30,000 troops, however they were send to for security in Afghanistan. Then he said that he will try to bring them back. Then last he talked about human rights. How women have to be treated equally. Then at the very end he talked about the immigration laws.

Republican Response
The republican response speech wasn't so interesting to me especially since they mostly disagree on half of what Obama said. However it seems like if they want to change health care. But with out making the prices of taxes or something else to go higher. They also agree on making new power plants,and for that to create more jobs. They also agree on the education. Also on sending more troops to help our security. Then they said no to tax the big business. They really didn't say as much as i expected.

Bridget Fuentes
Period 2

Sean C said...

I feel that the Obama speech was really good. He really captured some of the major issues in our country today. While I don’t agree with all of it I can honestly say there was a lot of it that I agree with. Obama discusses a plethora of topics throughout the speech. The main focus of his speech was the unemployment in the United States. I feel that that is the biggest issue with the US as of now and fixing the unemployment rates in the US would in turn help the economy by allowing people to spend money in American giving us the benefits from it. An issue I don’t quite agree with id the helping Haiti out. I do feel that they need help but I think that we should fix our own problems before we stroll into another country and take their problems into our hands. The health care issue is highly controversial, I meant there a point where I agree with it and there are points where I don’t and I feel that they need to spend time on it and not rush thorough it. I really do like that fact that he is trying to get students and citizens motivated about education and such. The Republican response though harsh had some good points. They do agree with some of what Obama was saying but they also don’t agree with a lot of it as well. I think they are all for the healthcare plan and the education plan but I feel that they are completely behind the no tax break for big businesses.

Sean Cavenee
Period: 4

kelleyhobbie said...

During the State of the Union Address, Obama outlined many different ideas for the year 2010. He talks about wanting to improve small businesses and reduce taxes so the businesses can improve and hire more people. He also talked about the health care reform and how he still wanted to take care of that issue. Obama wants to make exporting goods double so Americans will be able to have more jobs offered. Most of his discussion was about the economy and how there is a 10% unemployment rate and he really wants to change that. He also talked about the soldiers in Afghanistan and his plan to bring them home and take care of them.

The speech was definitely interesting and it was the first State of the Union I have ever watched. Not being involved or interested in politics, my mind was not really focused but i did get a lot out of it. I definitely agree on most of the stuff he said and I am glad he is trying to make this economy better. His main priority is in check and I just hope something just gets done fast.

Obama's plans did not seem to go well with the Republican party. Most of the things he said did not go so well with the republicans. Some of the things they did agree with were the economic issues and how they will be solved, consuming natural resources, health care and the troops that will be sent to end the war. There are always going to be disagreements but I think it is good that Obama got the attention from everyone about most of the topics he discussed.

aLeX said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
aLeX said...

State of the Union Response:
In the State of the Union Address Obama mentioned many of the topics I previously predicted he would mention. He had many good ideas and presented them well and filled with details and how his ideas will be beneficial to us. He talked about the economy and how he is trying to create new jobs with the job bill. That way people can get a job once again and be able to make a living and support their families. He also introduced how he wanted to help small business in order for them to continue to prosper so it can keep creating jobs. Taxing the big companies was also mentioned as well as the banks. Another topic that he touched was the Recovery Act, and how that was supposed to help us in bettering ourselves economically wise. Education was also something he talked about and how getting an education doesn’t mean you have to be broke. He said how your loans you got could be forgiven and you would pay only 10% of your loans if you worked in a job where you gave back to the community. He wants us to make college affordable to students and generations to come in order to obtain a better life. He also says that he expects to help our economy by exporting more goods. That way we could trade with other countries and gain money from them, which deals with trade relations. Obama mentions that they were planning on freezing government expenses for three years, which in my opinion is a great idea and something they should push further. He also says how it is necessary to send more troops to Afghanistan before we are ready to bring out troops back in 2011. Along with this he also says how he wants gays to be allowed to fight. I completely agree with him here because gay or straight they are still humans and Americans as well. They should be allowed to do “anything” anyone is allowed to do. A topic that he didn’t really talk as much about as I thought he would was whether or not to pass the Healthcare Bill. He’s persistent on saying we have to pass it because we need to make it affordable to those people who really need it but don’t have it. He is so set on passing this that he even asked the Republicans to let him know if they have an idea on how to make the Bill pass and allowing it to be affordable. One of the best points he mentioned was that both the Democratic and Republican Party have to put their differences aside in order to make better decisions for us, the people of the United States.

Republican Response:
Of course, the Republicans didn’t fully agree on everything Obama had to say seeing as they see things from different points of views. Yet they did agree on having to send more troops to Afghanistan and in having to create more new jobs in order to stabilize our economy, and in making education affordable. Also, I guess you can say that they also agreed and having the Healthcare Bill passed, just that they don’t want taxes to go higher. They also disagreed on taxing big businesses because seeing as they’re Republicans they wouldn’t be in favor or that. Over all I don’t like the Republican point of view and what they had to say was pretty pointless to me since I wasn’t interested. All that’s left to say is Obama has a lot on his plate thanks to the marvelous Bush that did such a “great job”. Obama has barely been in office for one year and that hasn’t been long enough for him to fix everything Bush screwed up.
Alex Lopez
Per. 4

Anonymous said...

In his Speech of the Union Address, President Obama, talked about:
*The economy
*Climate change
*Education
*Health Care
*Security
And covered much more issues and concerns wrapped in these matters.
He said,"I wouldn't do what's popular, I would do what's necessary."
Because of the bad economy,there was 95% taxcut, 65% cheaper insurance. There are 2 million Americans employed who would otherwise be unemployed. He said that we should encourage Small Businesses, by reducing tax on them.
Next, concerning Climate Change, we are creating lots and lots of oppurtunities in clear energy jobs. We are going to invest the highest amount in next year on Clear Energy field.
Then, Education. He said,"The best Anti-Poverty plan is world class education." He will also pass a bill to revitalise the community colleges, so that we can have better education. Also that, only 10% of income will have to be paid for only 20 years by a student. And only 10% if the student chooses a public job. This is good, because no one should be scared to get Education.
Health Care. Mr. Obama said that he wants reform in Health Care because of the stories he heard. He said that he has heard of many Americans being turned away when they were in need of medical assistance. He also said,"Congress and we should not walk away from that reform when we are so close to achieve it."
Security. He said,"The day I walked in office,I renewed my focus on terror." He said that we are increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan to help strengthen their security. Our trrops will return from Afghanistan by 2011, and from Iraq by this August.
He also defended himself. He said that in 2000, there was a surplus of 200 billion dollars. But by the time he took office. there was a national debt of 8 trilion dollars. After that we added another $ 1 Trillion to it in efforts to rescue our economy.
Some of his ideas to revive economy and on other issues were:
*Increase exports
*Freeze some spending from 2011
*Bring 44 countries together to control status of nuclear weapons.

My Response:
From whatever President Obama suggested, I agree with him for the most part. Yes, there are these lots of issues that he has to think about, economy being the most critical one. I think, right he has to much more than any other President. But I think he will handle it, and will bring us back to where we were before.

Republican Response:
The Republican response was delivered by Bob McDonnell, Senator of State Virginia. I think he got pretty critical in his response. He said that Federal government is trying to do too much. That more than 300 million Americans lost their jobs during Obama's govenment. And that the Democratic government is just increasing the deficit day by day. He agreed that we need to increase our investment in Clean energy field to create more jobs. But his criticism was natural because there exists a Bipartision government.
So just hope for the best to happen.