Categories: Knight's Hood
Jan 25 Roundup: Obama-rama
National Post
This is a great starting point when looking at last night's address.
Bloomberg
One of the highlights of the State of the Union address was the president's focus on the middle class. He reached out to the 99%, seemingly saying "I understand your hardships. I know you're out of work with little support. I want to give you jobs and hope." Obama even talked about the elusive american dream, and how his policies of creating jobs at home would invigorate that goal. His talk of raising taxes for the rich out of fairness would surely lend a helping hand in that regard. The way forward, according to the big guy in the White House, is homegrown business, alternative energy, and hard work.
American Progress
American Progress is rich with information and perspectives on the State of the Union address. On the front page, its writers and editors have neatly compiled articles under each topic Obama emphasized. We've picked up this one link because it's relevant even to Canadians. The truth is, the 1% situation is not sustainable. An eroding middle class is also not sustainable. Obama's verbal push last night for an America where playing by the rules and working hard means the ability to support yourself and family is refreshing. Too bad this mindset fell apart when banks were bailed out during the "Great Recession."
The Guardian
What does "inclusive innovation" mean to you? Let's say that during the Occupy Wall Street protests, leaders of some of the big banks came down from their offices and actively listened to the people camped in Zuccoti Park. Inclusive innovation starts with a company's actions, and ends with incorporating citizens' reactions. The end result is company growth focused on social growth. Now that's a concept we can get behind.
NBC
About one year ago, President Obama gave his annual State of the Union address. Here's a look at the promises he made, the highlights he guaranteed, and what actually happened.
The topic of energy featured prominently in the president's annual address. This is the third year in a row where Obama emphasized supporting home-grown energy, his role in its recent boom as an industry, and his future promises in the field. One of the things he mentioned was the need for greater environmental standards for oil companies (an allusion to his rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline) and for creating incentives for companies to operate in America, not abroad.
The State of the Unio...ahem, the environment
NRDC
One marker of America's well-being is the environment. This writer delves into the talking points she hopes Obama will address (the post was created before the address). The main question is, "will eaders rotect our families from polluters and build a cleaner energy system?" Unfortunately, in the past year, the Republican-led House has passed 190 anti-environment initiatives. So, what comes next?
Reuters
This column by John Kemp examines the energy side of President Obama's speech. He claims that for all of its energy talk, the White House lacks policy coherence and missed out on a golden opportunity with the Keystone XL pipeline. Kemp relies on written material provided to the press days before the actual address, but the information is the same.
Time
"Tonight’s State of the Union may be remembered as the moment when the White House stopped working on climate—and started working on energy."
Bloomberg
It turns out that Obama is cutting regulations faster than Bush was. A recent survey finds that Obama changed over three-quarters of the rules when it comes to businessses in America, compared to Bush's one-half. It's no surprise, since industry talk has dominated White House meetings. The only downer is that environmental protections were targeted most harshly during Obama's presidency, despite Republicans' stating the opposite.
Missed the entire address? Sick of seeing snide remarks about Obama's words on yuor Twitter feed because you don't actually know the original words? This is the website for you. It's a full transcript of Obama's speech, minus the visual bits of him signing autographs and laughing at the corniness of his "spilled milk" joke.