Reaction to State of the Union

The President's state of the union address is a tradition every year to evaluate the progress that has been made as well as address issues that have yet to be handled. Regardless of a president's political party, it always sets them up for intense scrutiny from opponents as well as a message for their party to rally around. Regular citizens who either support or dislike the president and his policies tune in to hear how the country overall is faring and what they should look for in the future.

On my part, I was impressed with Obama's stance on education. I think that raising the compulsory education age law to 18 is a practice that can only benefit students and society overall. Forcing students to stay in school longer shows that there is no benefit in slacking; raising expectations often leads to raised results in the classroom. Additionally, his focus on teachers was also a good message, at a time when many are convinced that the education system itself is largely broken, and many recently graduated Masters students hoping to teach cannot find jobs anywhere at the moment. Jobs are certainly almost always an important topic in state of the union speeches - people want to hear that job opportunities still exist. When they don't, it is often a major backlash on the president's administration as well as his party as a whole.

Going along with jobs, finance as a whole and particularly taxes also never fail to be the focus of this speech. This is probably especially important this year, with the Republican candidates coming under fire for their questionable tax rates. Obama mentioned that 98 percent of American families make less than $250,ooo dollars a year; that is a powerful percentage. It seems that if one is of the opinion of "for the greater good," tax cuts for the middle class are something that can make a huge difference. However, if it was as easy as it seems, then why has it still failed to become a reality?

What I found lacking in Obama's speech was mention of the LGBTQ community and the progress made thus far in equality. With the upcoming election approaching quickly, I think this might have given Obama a decisive edge with some voters, as it is an issue that has polarized the two parties since the last election.