{"id":6899,"date":"2012-01-26T00:02:09","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T08:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=6899"},"modified":"2012-01-26T00:02:09","modified_gmt":"2012-01-26T08:02:09","slug":"state-of-the-union-better-late-then-never","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/26\/state-of-the-union-better-late-then-never\/","title":{"rendered":"State of the Union: Better Late then Never"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"26State-of-the-Union-2012\" border=\"0\" alt=\"26State-of-the-Union-2012\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/26State-of-the-Union-2012.jpg\" width=\"636\" height=\"356\" \/><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">I missed Obama\u2019s State of the Union address, because I was doing volunteer work in prison at the time and did not get to see it until yesterday morning, so please color this better late than never.&#160; I have the full enhanced video of the speech, followed by my own notes in raw format.&#160; I did not like everything I heard, but I did like far more than I disliked.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Here is the video:<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"360\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zgfi7wnGZlE?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">And here are my raw notes.&#160; <em>Boo <\/em>indicates that I heard Republicans booing the President at that point.<\/font><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He opened with the end of the Iraq war, the death of Osama bin Laden, the disruption of Al Qaeda, and the ability to cut forces in Afghanistan.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He used the teamwork of our military as an example of the teamwork that there should be in Congress.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He stressed that everyone must get a fair shot, do their fair share, and play by the same set of the years.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He describes the onset of the financial crisis.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>Businesses have created more than 3 million Jobs since Obama&#8217;s policies took effect.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He accurately described the State of the Union as &quot;getting stronger&quot;.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He said he will work with anyone, but will fight obstruction and oppose policies that would return us to the conditions that<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>brought on the recession.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He praised the auto industry for their success since we saved it.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He stressed insourcing to bring manufacturing jobs home.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He called for ending the tax deduction for outsourcing and creating one for insourcing.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He proposed<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>a Basic Minimum Tax on companies who move jobs and profits overseas and use the revenues generated to give tax cuts for companies that create jobs. (Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He has created a Trade Enforcement group to combat unfair trade practices by foreign nations.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He proposed a bold jobs training program, and called on Congress to support community colleges and reemployment programs. (Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He called for support for teachers giving schools the resources to retain good teachers, pay the best ones more, and discharge those who are ineffective.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>Proposed that all students to be requires to stay in high school.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>Congress must stop the interest on student loans from doubling in July [as Republicans scheduled it to do].<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>Funding for colleges must be contingent on their ability to hold tuition costs down.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">Obama said he has increased border security, and now we need comprehensive immigration reform, and called for a dream act in the interim. (Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He said women must earn equal pay for equal work.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He said to give tax relief to small businesses, to fund research,<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>and to open more oil and gas resources.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; He said g<\/span>as companies must disclose the chemicals they use and those must be regulated for human and environmental safety.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>We need an all of the above strategy, so we also need to develop green energy.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>End the tax subsidies for fossil fuels and give them to green energy.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>We need to help manufactures use less energy through conservation.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">We need to repair and upgrade America&#8217;s infrastructure.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>Invest 50% of war savings on infrastructure. (Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">Allow American homeowners to refinance at lower interest rates.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">We need to both remove outdated regulations and add more regulations that protect Americans.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He said he has added less regulations than Bush did in his first six years.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He stressed the CFPB and Richard Cordray.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>(Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He announced a special investigation unit, made up of DOJ personnel and state Attorneys General to investigate the criminal Wall Street mortgage practices that caused the crisis.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He called for passage of the payroll tax cut without side issues and drama. (Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He called for deficit reduction using the Buffet Rule where people making over $1 million must pay a minimum of 30%.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>It is not class warfare to say a billionaire should pay more than his secretary.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>It is common sense. (Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">Ban insider trading by members of Congress.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>(BIG Boo)<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">All judicial nominations should receive an up or down vote within 90 days.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">Allow him to consolidate the federal bureaucracy.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He called on Republicans to help, as we should all work together for a smarter, more effective actions.<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He returned to the success that our troops have achieved through teamwork, and listed other foreign policy successes.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He said that the renewal of American leadership can be felt across the globe.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>&quot;America is back!&quot;<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>&quot;Anyone who tells you America is in decline does not know what they are talking about.&quot;<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He praised the troops.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>He said he has increased VA spending every year [over Republican opposition].<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">&#160;<\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 0in; font-family: \"><font style=\"font-size: 12pt\" color=\"#0000ff\">He said we all need to learn from out troops.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&#160; <\/span>We all need to do our jobs and get each others&#8217; backs.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Next here is a complete detailed analysis of the Republican Response<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto\" title=\"26GOPBS\" alt=\"26GOPBS\" src=\"https:\/\/www.7thstep.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/26GOPBS.jpg\" width=\"470\" height=\"420\" \/><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">In my opinion his outreach to Republicans is futile, as I woke up this morning to the sound of Republicans ranting and raving about class warfare on MSNBC.&#160; However, he displayed authentic patriotism, so different that the phony flag-wrapping Republicans do.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">Considering the available choices there is a virtually infinite gulf between Obama and either of his Republican opponents. (Santorum has frothed out.&#160; Paul never mattered and never will.)&#160; He did an excellent job in making that gulf apparent.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0000ff\">91% of Americans polled said they approved of what Obama proposed.&#160; 9% opposed it.&#160; I count myself in the 91%.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I missed Obama\u2019s State of the Union address, because I was doing volunteer work in prison at the time and did not get to see it until yesterday morning, so please color this better late than never.&#160; I have the full enhanced video of the speech, followed by my own notes in raw format.&#160; I <a href='https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/26\/state-of-the-union-better-late-then-never\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","category-politics","category-19-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}