As I watched the 2011 State of the Union Address, which ended at 10:13 tonight, Eastern Time, one thing that came to mind was how much more I enjoyed watching and listening to an intelligent speaker like President Barack Obama after eight years of listening to President George W. Bush trying to speak. President Barack Obama is a very good and intelligent speaker, and has a great progressive vision for our nation's future. I give him an A- for his speech tonight.
While I don't agree 100% with everything the President had to say, I truly believe he is trying to do what's best for our country and has our country's best interests in mind.
One point I thought was silly was the President saying he would veto anything that came across his desk with earmarks, since earmarks are just guidelines for spending money that is already appropriated for a certain area, and the Republican battle cry against earmarks is a non-issue that has nothing to do with the amount of money being spent. I'm thinking the President was giving this to the misinformed right wingers as a sign that he is willing to compromise on issues.
I also found it interesting to watch John Boehner's reactions to different things the President talked about.
When the president talked about taking tax cuts away from the oil companies and using that money to promote the development of renewable energy, Boehner didn't appear to like that one bit. I can understand, though, since Boehner felt it necessary to apologize to BP for the President making them pay up for their disaster in the Gulf. John Boehner gets a lot of campaign contributions from big oil, and he wants to keep his sugar daddies happy.
Also from watching John Boehner's reactions, it appears that he likes having the military go to college campuses to recruit students to go in the military, just as long as they are NOT gay. He didn't seem happy at all about the repeal of "Don't Ask. Don't Tell".
On a lighter note, when President Barack Obama talked about Boehner coming from a background of sweeping floors for his father's business, the first thing that popped into my mind was that Boehner should go back to a job like that... He would be better suited for it than for being Speaker of The House.
One thing that always annoys me is the rebuttal by the opposition Party after the President's address. I don't like it, no matter which Party the President belongs to. I feel that the focus after the State of the Union Address should be on the President's vision of the future for this country. All the opposition Party does in the rebuttal, is say how most of the speech by the President is wrong and you should listen to what the opposition Party says instead.
This year, they did something even more stupid. They allowed the Tea Party to give a rebuttal, too! That's allowing two right wing speakers to refute what the President has said, the right wing and the ultra right wing. In my opinion, this is completely WRONG!
