Obama Focused on Deficit and War in State of The Union Speech

President Obama discussed his vision for the future in his highly anticipated State of The Union address this past Tuesday. The speech covered a number of aspects like governance, the economy, foreign policy etc. The main points of the speech are detailed below.

ECONOMY

Obama described the recent rally in the stock market and the related increase in corporate earnings as hallmarks of a robust economic recovery. He also promised to rein in the huge budget deficit by advocating a cap on all non-defense spending for the next five years. Such a move could potentially reduce the budget deficit by a whopping $400 billion in a short period of ten years. Obama also requested the Congress to do away with subsidies to large oil companies and talked about ending tax-breaks for the richest 2% of the population.

INNOVATION

Obama stressed on the importance of increased funding and investment in biomedical research, information technology and clean energy technology. He set an ambitious goal of having over a million electric vehicles on America’s roads and generating 80% of U.S. electricity from alternative energy sources by 2015. “We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices, the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers, of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It’s how we make a living,” remarked Obama, drawing a big round of applause.

HEALTH CARE

President Obama put up a strong defense of his controversial health-care bill even as he offered to work with the opposition on ways to streamline the bill and make it more small-business friendly. “So instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward,” he said.

FOREIGN POLICY

Obama declared that the war in Iraq is about to end. Regarding Afghanistan, Obama stated that U.S. troop presence in the war-ravaged country will slowly start decreasing starting July even as American soldiers capture more Taliban controlled areas and continue training and arming the Afghan National Army. “Our purpose is clear – by preventing the Taliban from re-establishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny al-Qaida the safe haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11,” Obama said.

MILITARY

President Obama justified his decision to revoke the ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces by saying that,” Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love.” He also requested colleges to let military recruiters and the ROTC have access to their students.

GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION

President Obama accepted that complicated rules and red-tape were interfering with governance and proposed a complete overhaul of the federal government structure. The proposal will be put to vote in the Congress in the near future.

POLITICS

Obama acknowledged the intermittent political friction that has been seen lately as a result of having a Democrat controlled Senate and a GOP-controlled House of Representatives. He requested both Republicans and Democrats to work together by saying that, “What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow.” Many Republican and Democrat members had chosen to sit together for the State of The Union address as a show of political unity.

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