Hot off the presses. Here's an official preview of President Obama's prepared State Of The Union speech, as issued by the White House:
With their votes, the American people determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties. New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans. We will move forward together, or not at all – for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.
At stake right now is not who wins the next election – after all, we just had an election. At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country, or somewhere else. It's whether the hard work and industry of our people is rewarded. It's whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but a light to the world. We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again.
But we have never measured progress by these yardsticks alone. We measure progress by the success of our people. By the jobs they can find and the quality of life those jobs offer. By the prospects of a small business owner who dreams of turning a good idea into a thriving enterprise. By the opportunities for a better life that we pass on to our children. That's the project the American people want us to work on. Together.
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Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik¸ we had no idea how we'd beat them to the moon. The science wasn't there yet. NASA didn't even exist.
But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.
This is our generation's Sputnik moment.
Thoughts?
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So far, predictable. What people want to know is who will be hit the hardest for the sake of meeting budget needs while protecting massive tax cuts for the wealthy ("we pay so the rich don't have to"), much of which continues to be used to export our jobs. Clinton hit the poorest, and America has shown its apathy. The fear is that Obama will hit disabled citizens on Social Security for the sake of protecting Social Security retirement.
On jobs: Since most of the money handed out to corporations over the last 30-some years has gone into covering the costs of building factories and offices in foreign countries to export our jobs, are you SURE that more tax cuts will lead to job creation in the US? Kinda doubt it, so we might as well just toss out those ideas about rebuilding our once-great manufacturing base (writes me, from a long line of Bucyrus Erie and Ladish workers that ended with this generation).