Barack Obama's State of the Union Speech - Bland or Bold?

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By now the many analysts have given their opinions as to the President's address to the Congress and the Nation.  The opinions are - as expected - mixed depending on the analysts political leanings.  Some said it was good, some said it was not foreceful enough, some said it was like a campaign speech and others simply thought it was hot air.

I think it was all of the above - bland and bold.

I did like several comments he did make.  The most important one I heard was his open challenge of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on campaign financing and advertising - very bold  This was a step outside of the "comfort" zone of political corectness.  I give him credit for this one as the ruling is wrong, has nothing to do with the preservation of "our" First Amendment rights and does very much open control of elected officials to corporations both foreign and domestic. 

Second was his commnet on creating an Executive Order to overrule Congress not passing a bill authored by a Democrat and a Republican - bold.  I have not studied the bill so I cannot comment on its value but I do applaud the President on taking a politically dangerous stand. My applause is for his  and bold one not necessarily his correctness.

Third, I felt his comment on elected officials not working for re election or to "win" points in polls but in doing the job for the people was a good and bold one.  After all, is that not why we put them there?  But I am sure it will have very little effect.

This tied in with his comments of the elimination of Lobbyists and another positive and very bold point in the speech.   Lobbying to me is a form of bribery - no it is bribery.  Combining lobbying with the Supreme Court's recent ruling delivers no change and offers no hope for the people.  Again, a good statement but with no teeth - bold then bland.  A Democracy where the elected officials are bought and paid for is not a Democracy.

As to the rest of his 70 minute speech, it was bland.  We all know we need ;jobs, education and health care - no one would deny that - but how do we accomplish that?  The Stimulous package is a small, very small beginning and may not be enough.  Adding $30 Billion of the repaid TARP funds is a pittance compared to the trillions we put into "too big to fail" companies - another bold and bland statement.  I have always maintained that those trillions should have been put directly on Main Street then we would have seen a recovery.  As to education, he indicated the problems and some very broad solutions but no definitive plan of action - bland.  As to health care, or as he now referred to it, "health insurance reform", nothing said other then the "honorable" mention - very bland.

What we need form our President is boldness.  Boldness to fight the establishment and those like the bankers who would hijack it.  What we need is a very bold reassurance from our President that he will address the issues of the people not cater to the buracracy and the establishment.  We need a President that is a true statesman and proponent of the people.  We need more strength and conviction not just campaign speeches. 

I don't believe his speech will have an impact any time soon, if at all.  The abuses of the banking system will hinder us for years to come and the stimulous or recovery package will only have some trickle effects and take years to show results.

 We seem to be able to pump money with no intent for payback in many other areas that truly are not in the public interest.  Maybe if we pump some of this money directly into education, health care and small business we could recover much sooner then later with a more lasting long term effect.

We need to stabilize the real estate markets with programs -  that are not window dressing - to stem the tide of foreclosures.  Restore the American Dream.

In addition, we will see little change as long as Congressional dynasties exist.  One major step forward - to fix our broken system - would be to limit terms on all elected officials, from the President to both Houses of Congress and even to the Supreme Court, to a one time, six year term.  Unless we can change these people with some predetermined frequency we can never have true change we so desperately need in our country - regardless of who lives in our White House.

Being optimistic, I believe he can begin to make a difference if he takes the bull by the horns, does not make decisions that are politically correct just to attempt to win election to a second term, but to make decisions to fix our real problems.  I do believe he knows and understands what they are.  He needs to employ the same advice he verbalized to Congress  He has three more years to do so and we have him for our President for at least that much more time.  In the words of Captain Picard of StarTrek TNG, "make it so!"

Your comments and opinions are encouraged.