2011/01/25

SOTU address

Late arrival, 9:25 PM. Paraphrasing:

Energy ...

Need for education ... support "the love of learning" at home ... celebrate not just sports heroes, but academic achievements (long applause) ... "Race To The Top" is improving educational standards ... Bruce Randolph School in Colorado ... challenge to the youth to become teachers ... making college more affordable; asking Congress to make tuition tax credit permanent ...

Stop sending foreign students back home after they finish school ...

Infrastructure! Proposing to "redouble [our] efforts" to maintain and upgrade our infrastructure ... high-speed rail "without the pat-down" (suuuure) ... expand high-speed internet access ...

Tax code ... rigged in favor of the wealthy ... call to simplify the code, eliminate deductions so overall corporate (!) rate can be reduced ...

[Note: Obama is energized, Biden looks smugly happy and Boehner looks like he has been drinking.]

Defending regulation ... safe food and drugs ... standing ovation for mention of health care law ... touting the many positive aspects of said law ...

Debt ... mentioned debt started accumulating about "a decade ago" (under Bush Jr., eh) ... freeze domestic spending for the next five years (a little half-hearted clapping) ... defense spending cuts approved by DOD ... make sure that we only cut what we can truly afford to cut (don't cut off your nose to spite your face) ... but this won't be enough ... tax breaks and loopholes are actually an expense ... repealing health care law would cost over $0.25 trillion ...

Strengthen Social Security without putting retirees and disabled at risk ... do not invest SS in the stock market ... tax the top 2% rather than cutting spending on what is truly important ...

"Can't win the future with a government of the past." Salmon fall under multiple agencies (Dept. of the Interior inland, Commerce at sea) ... rebuild faith in government ... open up government process with informative websites ... threat to veto bills with earmarks ...

Foreign affairs ... America's standing has been restored ... Iraq ... combat forces pulled out, war is coming to an end ... al-Qaeda continues to be a threat, but we are foiling their attempts ... "American Muslims are a part of our American family" ... taking the fight to al-Qaeda and the Taliban ... begin to brings troops home from Afghanistan starting this summer ... "We will not relent, we will not waver and we will defeat you."

START treaty ... fewer warheads and weapons ... Iranian government sanctions ... North Korea ...

Strengthened ties with nations worldwide ... election in South Sudan ... United States stands with the people of Tunisia ...

The men and women who serve our country have borne the greatest burden of all in this struggle ... support the troops with materiel and healthcare ... DADT repeal effective this year ... call for college campuses to open their doors to military recruiters ...

"We will disagree about everything" ... our democracy may be messy, but it's OUR democracy ... oh, shit, Boehner's gonna cry ... the American Dream ... Brandon Fisher, who helped save the Chilean miners ... "we do big things" ... "the idea of America endures" ... the State of our Union is strong.

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