By Shermichael Singleton

In the aftermath of listening to Obama’s State of the Union address, I must say I am utterly disappointed. Obama still lives in fantasy land as millions of every day working class Americans struggle just to make ends meet. In my previous article I wrote about Obama having what I deem”Illogical Optimism.”

President Obama boasted about saving 2 million jobs and continued by saying “we’re on track to add 1 million more new jobs.” According to Recovery.gov 640,329 jobs were created or saved from the recovery package, however Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers estimated the number of created or saved jobs at the end of 2009, was between 1.5 million and2 million, two very distinct numbers. The fact that White House advisers gave varying estimates on Sunday talks shows this past weekend, does not help Obama’s credibility.

“The recovery act is working,” said President Obama, moments later he requested a new “job bill,” from congress. The recovery act is not working, in fact in2009 we lost more jobs than what was supposedly saved or created according to the Obama administration. Recent government figures show 4.2 million jobs were lost in 2009, hence the reason behind the 10 percent unemployment rate, which is where it remains. The president is making it harder and harder to find him credible.

Obama proposed tax cuts for small business, saying the plan would hire new workers along with other proposals to help the middle class. He added the plan would increase tax credits for child and dependent care, expand retirement accounts and be more generous with student-loan repayment. All great proposals, however the fact of the matter is we don’t have the funding for these programs, which mean they would only add to our growing deficit which is not what we need at the moment.

 
One of the highlights of the speech for me was when Obama went after the U.S. Supreme Court. Citing their most recent ruling to partly lift bans on campaign contributions, Obama said the justices reversed “a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests” by allowing corporations and unions to spend “without limit.” He endorsed an unspecified legislation to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling, but Obama didn’t really offer any resolution for doing it better. Part of the court’s ruling allows greater disclosure of lobbyist contacts with the White House, perhaps it’s not the financial piece that the president finds problematic but the disclosure of contracts between his administration and lobbyist. Obama’s attack on the Supreme Court made him seem desperate and for someone who’s trying to rebuild an already damaged image, I don’t think that benefited him much. It was inappropriate for Obama to rebuke the court in such a high profile forum, once they issue a decision its final, “they really need to let the political branches or the people deal with it as they will,” said CNN’s Jeffrey Tobin.

With that said the president spoke about American innovation and the resilience of the American people. On this topic I was expecting more, the president pointed out a few historic dates in American history and made a few oblique quotes about our innovation and spirit but that was about it.

 
The American infrastructure must be rebuilt starting with the private sector, not more government jobs. I was looking for an aggressive approach to energy, a nationwide attack to relieve us of our dependence on foreign oil, a nationwide high speed rail system similar to what we see in Europe, which would create thousands of jobs in the private sector. Something similar to the U.S. highways but more modern, a proposal of that caliber, which can be done, would shift the nation in a new direction. It would require schools to focus more on math and science because many top paying fields would require those skills, it could also potentially put us in an entirely new caliber as far technology goes, giving us the abilities to better compete against the Japanese and others.

The president also spoke about having a world class education system. There needs to be an overall of the entire American Education System because currently it is failing our children, we need to have programs that focus on the talents of students and focus the subject areas around their talents, when you’re intrigued by something, you tend to want to try harder.Research has shown that this is the best way to educate a child, i.e if they’re a talented musician, relate music to math and science and there shall be a sudden peak of interest. In order to be number one, we must have a class of people that are intellectually number one and until that happens, it’s only going to get increasingly difficult for America to compete in a globalized society.

Throughout the speech the president spoke about all of the problems he’s inherited from the previous administration. Continuously imputing the state of the America on the Bush Administration is not going to move the nation in the right direction. Casting denunciation on the previous administration, and constantly talking about all of the problems he’s inherited are not signs of progress. Obama says his goal is to move us forward in a new and better direction than he found, that is going to be hard to do if the American people are constantly being reminded that the state of America has nothing to do with him. He’s the president now and the American people look to him to help solve the problems, it is he that currently sits in the ova l office, not Bush.

Big government has never been the solution to any problem, we can look at the histories of both Russia and Germany to see that.

In retrospect, it is safe to say that the president’s demeanor and tone throughout the entire speech hints towards a president who is unsure of himself and sadly unsure of the state of America. With a bad economy that isn’t going anywhere and a deficit that is going to be well over 1 trillion dollars, unassurance is the last thing the American people need. A more technologically competitive America is what’s in the best interest of the nation, a stronger education system that focuses on the individuals strength to build them up in other areas is what will make our children more competitive on a global level.

If we are to reach uncharted courses with a future with limitless possibilities, the time to start that course is now and it starts with the American people, not government.

Shermichael Singleton is the co-founder of the College Republicans at Morehouse College.  His political acumen and maturation is well beyond his chronological years. He truly understands the government and how it works in addition to the politics necessary to be successful at keeping America at the forefront of innovation, prosperity and Homeland Security. In a constellation of starts, he shines bright. Upon encountering him, you would immediately know he is destined for greatness.”

 Shermichael’s New Blog – http://singletonpost.com/