State of the Union Address- January 2010

I usually leave the political stuff to The Liberal Rocker. They're more interested in it than I am, are more knowledgeable about it than I am, understand it better than I do, and actually intended to talk about it when he created the blog. However, in the light of last night's State of the Union Address, I'm going to write a bit about it too.

Two things before I start in on the notes I took during the speech: Did anyone else notice the Gryffindor tie Obama was wearing? Not blue for democrat. SCARLET AND GOLD STRIPED.
Also: This is the first presidential speech I have listened to other than Obama's inauguration speech. I enjoy listening to him talk, plus this is the first State of the Union Address I have been deemed old enough to stay up and watch it.

Onward. All quotes are approximate.

"...Building cars... " Um, cars aren't the greatest things for our planet at the moment. I know our country is set up to use them, but that really isn't the greatest idea.

Comparing the bank bailout to a root canal: Great comparison.

It was amusing to watch the republicans applaud some things, and the democrats others. While observing the audience, I also spotted a man picking his nose, and a man in a brown coat who definitely looked like he was texting someone. We couldn't tell because a chair blocked our view.

"Yeah, I thought I'd get some applause for that."    Ha. You succeeded in making me laugh.

"infrastructure of tomorrow" - If we're going to be making the infrastructure of tomorrow, why do we need to be building cars?

"... creating clean energy, clean energy products, jobs..."  Again with the cars.

"...making sure jobs stay within our borders" What, are you afraid we're all going to move to Europe? Or Cananda? Well, I do know several people who might want to move to one of those places (granted, one moved here from Canada when he was in 1st grade). Note that nearly everyone gave a standing ovation to that statement.

Referring to the last decade as "The Lost Decade" because job growth was slow and we plunged into debt fighting to wars against people who were using our own weapons against us (that last bit is from Chaney, not Obama). - that was amusing.

"how long should we wait?" An excellent question.

He began talking about how we need to build more nuclear power plants, and lots of people clapped, but I couldn't tell who was clapping. I thought nuclear power plants were bad for the planet but good for electricity. Am I wrong? Are they "green"?

About global warming, he mentions the "overwhelming amount of evidence" supporting it (and the Democrats applaud and cheer), but then picks up the Republicans too by turning it into a competition whether or not they believe the evidence.

Skip forward in the notes to something related to the above paragraph. They tell us in school that school is nothing like the real world. Based on my observations on what Obama said throughout the speech and the people in the room listening, they are wrong. There were people texting, as I mentioned, people muttering to each other and clearly making fun of the speaker, people terribly exuberant, people being petty, and the mob effect going on. I mean, all this business between the two political parties is so much like the business between any two groups of people in a middle or high school (and probably college too, but I wouldn't know). There's fighting. There's the "trying to make the other group have more embarrassing headlines written about them." There's the people setting themselves against others just because of what group they're affiliated with. Sorry, teachers. Real life is a macrocosm of school with less knowledge, more weight and importance, and less equality.
School is required to be nondiscrimatory. Life outside? Not so much. We are being run by a bunch of people who never really got over their teen years. Why? Because the things associated with being a teenager aren't exclusive to that age group. They just climax and become the most visible then. When we're little, do we try to exact revenge on our siblings? Do we try to manipulate our parents into giving us an extra cookie or hour at the playground? Do we cry when we lose and want to pulverize the victor? Adults are the same. They just tend to have less visible and more complex ways of going about it, and the nouns are different.

Back to chronological order.

My mom commented that she "loves the way Obama looks at [Mrs. Obama], like he really, really loves her." That's nice.

He began talking about the budget and tax cuts and how there have been no tax increases. Don't we need tax increases to pay off all the money we owe to China and other countries? They're not going to sit still forever. There's a reason I recently wrote in a U.S. vs. China war in the relatively near future in one of my character descriptions (Space Commander Jezlak).

Somewhat early on in the speech, Obama mentioned that there needs to be no economic expansion. We need to save what we already have. Later, he says something about "finding new markets."

He places emphasis on educating the common person in math and science. Yay and all that, but what about English (and language in general)? I like math and science, I think they're extremely important and fascinating (I just don't want to do them professionally). But what about the person or people who wrote this speech you're giving us, Obama? What about the programmers (yes, programming is still languages) who keep the computers we depend on running and give us all of these great websites (and the Internet itself), programs, Apps, and stuff? What about all of the other important stuff English (or other languages) give us? What about reading and writing? You should have included Language Arts (there we go) in there too.

While he was talking about healthcare, there was a moment when Joe Biden and the other lady literally were talking behind his back. I had to laugh. I wonder what they were saying...

Did I mention those yellow shirts? There were people in red, blue, and purple, but what was up with all of the bright yellow? What does that represent?

"let's try common sense-- a novel concept" HA. My English teacher last semester would have definitely taken points off for something that cheeky. (is cheeky the right word?)

Much amusement when Obama mentions something about "gay people being allowed to serve in the millitary openly" and the cameras zoom in on the military guys who sit there solemnly while Democrats clap frantically in the background. I know they're supposed to look serious, but that was funny.

Last but not least: I love that he reads letters from people each night. It makes me want to write to him. The boy who sent him his allowance asking for it to be given to the people of Haiti was especially adorable.


Now I'm going to write another post that's back on topic.