The State of the Union in 2007
Wednesday evening, President Bush delivered the State of the Union address to Congress, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the President's cabinet.
Compare the President's address to the Democratic response, and post, by Thursday night at 9 p.m., your thoughts about the state of the United States as we begin 2007. Post your thoughts as a comment on the class site. If you are not the first to post, read what your classmates wrote, and try to respond, respectfully, to what they have to say. Ideally, you should ask some questions that we as a class can work to answer.
For example, President Bush did not mention New Orleans in his speech, and Senator Webb criticized him for not mentioning it. What is the current state of affairs in New Orleans? What has the federal government done to help? Whose responsibility is it to help New Orleans rebuild? Should New Orleans rebuild, given its precarious position?
Compare the President's address to the Democratic response, and post, by Thursday night at 9 p.m., your thoughts about the state of the United States as we begin 2007. Post your thoughts as a comment on the class site. If you are not the first to post, read what your classmates wrote, and try to respond, respectfully, to what they have to say. Ideally, you should ask some questions that we as a class can work to answer.
For example, President Bush did not mention New Orleans in his speech, and Senator Webb criticized him for not mentioning it. What is the current state of affairs in New Orleans? What has the federal government done to help? Whose responsibility is it to help New Orleans rebuild? Should New Orleans rebuild, given its precarious position?
posted by Mr. G at 1/24/2007 04:42:00 AM
9 Comments:
While President Bush made a lot of good comments and proposals in his state of the union address, he also left out some important topics.
He talked about the usage of gasoline and lowering the amount of gasoline used but he never addressed the issue of global warming, which as we learned in school - is an extremely important topic that needs to be addressed.
Also he wants to continue to send more soldiers to Iraq but he doesn't have a solid plan that he explains to the public as to what he is going to do with these additional soldiers.
President Bush said he wanted to increase border patrol and help the illegal immigrants in our country gain citizenship. Wouldn't it be better to try to help the Mexican economy? Promoting fair trade and helping Mexico create more jobs would also improve living conditions in Mexico, because as the country gained money, the Mexican government would be able to help improve living conditions. It seems like it would be better to deal with the illegal immigration problem where it begins, rather than ignoring it until it effects Americans .
Why didn't Bush mention a plan for getting out of Iraq? He mostly talked about what the plans are for the Iraqi government, but he didn't mention actually leaving, only about sending in more troops.
While global warming may be an important issue, there is nothing the president can do himself, or with his cabinet members, to lower global warming by a considerable amount. As far as we know, global warming is being caused by emissions from cars and factories and other smaller sources. Unless he had the power to stop cars form being made, which would cripple America, there isn't much i can think of that he can do about that.
The president didn't mention a plan for what he was going to do with the additional troops in Iraq, but for now there also doesn't need to be mention of a plan for leaving. Like the Democratic response person said, just leaving Iraq is not the best thing to do. If we just pulled out now, everything that the troops and officials have been working for years to build would crumble almost as soon as we left. The terrorists there wouldn't have us to fear, and we would be leaving Iraq with an unstable goverment and military. In all likelyhood if we pulled out now it would be even worse than it was when we went in and all the problems we had right after 9/11 would be even worse. We don't know when things are going to be stable so for now there doesn't need to be mention of an exit plan. Also, when the U.S. military goes into other countries for any kind of relief effort, they never entirely leave. In almost every country in the world there are many U.S. Military bases that are there to stay, but there are no problems in most of those places so we don't really hear about that.
And I have to agree with Molly that improving living conditions in Mexico would be better than just having job programs for immigrants here. If we improve conditions over there, Mexicans will have less reason to come over here illegally. It would be even better if we improved conditions over there as in addition to having job programs here.
To respond to Molly's comments, I don't think that Mexico should be racing to the bottom of the labour pool. It doesn't increase the standard of living one bit. In fact, it encourages the gov'ment to cut wages. With China entering the WTO, Mexico is even more encouraged to cut wages in order to compete with Chinese labour. I believe instead of attempting to create more low-end factory jobs, (NAFTA for example) The Mexican gov'ment should focus on creating a larger, stronger more educated middle class.
Also, Bush didn't address a growing issues (which we've been psuedo-addressing in Civics): how the US military is becoming a crutch on which so many countries ( South Korea, Iraq, &c) are leaning on. If/when America is forced (a large scale conflict requiring large amount of infantry) to pull out: aren't we just screwing these countries over?
Bush's address was meant to be a bridge in hopes of collaborating with the new appointed Congress. He talked in some ways of compromise on important civil issues, such as immigration, and the idea to increase the gas effectiveness of cars. However, on the international field, needing only one democrat to vote for his plan in the senate, he took a stand on sending more troops.
I am going to agree with Molly and Terran that we, the United States, should build up Mexico's economy. Not only would that solve some issues with immigration, since many Mexicans come to America looking for a good job. It would also provide the benefits of a highly reliable trading partner on this side of the world.
Maybe it is just that Day After Tomorrow effect but Mexico seemed to become the safe haven in that movie. I know how much likes living in dirt huts, but if nothing happens to improve Mexico we could be pushed back a ways on the technological scale. There is or was a report that came out this morning or last night that addressed if it was too late to stop global warming from melting the ice caps or the ice on Greenland I believe. So if something bad does happens I really do not see anywhere else to go.
Bush's plan for the military, well, I really do not know. We cannot leave Iraq now but the result is going to be the death of all the Shiites or Sunnis or the country is broken up into three different states. I was surprised no one mentioned Iran, like it or not the Shiite terrorists coming into Iraq are controlled by Iran. So sending 20,000 troops if we do something stupid to Iran will just result in 20,000 more casualties. However, I have read some people were disappointed there is no plan for withdraw but the US cannot withdraw because of Iran. Having the US in Iraq gives Iran a royal flush, notice the casualty rates, they increase at times the US decides to put pressure on Iran, so if we decided to leave attacks would skyrocket and they might even go so far as to strike the US again to makes us play “poker” again.
I think the reason that Mexico doesn’t have an educated upper class is because there are no public schools in Mexico. To go to school and get an education families have to pay money. The reason that the families don’t send there children to school is because the children work all day to earn money to help pay for food.
The cost of the war in Iraq is at about 361 trillion dollars. The United States government could have built houses and clothed and fed for all the homeless families in America. I think that the money used in Iraq could have been spent more wisely.
The president siad that he was going to reduce the national debt by one half in 2009 and then eventually get it down to zero. I can sort of see were hes going with that but how is he going to reduce the debt with the war in Iraq? the war costs about $200 million dollars a day. that means it goes up about 73 billion dollars a year. i dont think that you can found a war and do all of the other things that he was talking about.
The president also talked about medicare and medicaid. he talked about saving the program with out raising taxes of any kind, infact he said that he was going to lower some taxes. i dont see how he can do this. with the baby boomer generation coming, the war in Iraq, his plans to lower the debt, and the new immigration policy he's talking about. the baby boomer generation is going to be hard to handle because of how much money is going to be needed to take care of all of those people and there is the war in Iraq. if the war in Iraq is ended then maybe it can be done.
The new immigration policy isnt talked about much. he doesnt say what the policy is going to be. i think that the president should set up a fixed rate of the amount of Mexicans that come into the US each year. this deal would also help fix the situation in Mexico by providing better jobs there and helping to fix the economy.
the president makes every thing he says sound really good while the democratic response points out were there are things that arnt so good with his plans.
The President addressed many important issues during his State of the Union. Such as healthcare, the federal budget, funding for scientific research, and plans to help education. Though he addressed these I am not convinced that anything will actually be done, the theme throughout this administration has been the opposite of all this. In response to molly and jonathan i think that you both are right. Jonathan, Molly only said that we should help Mexico strengthen their economy so they would be less tempted to come here illegaly i don't think thing she was aware of all those things. You are right however with all your points, but had molly been aware of those things i think she would have the same or at least a similiar opinion.
I think that to help the issue of global wrming with any real impact that the President should adopt the Kyoto treaty, and have more ambitious plans to lower our fossil fuel comsumption
I have to start off my comment with a question. What is an earmark?
I found it interesting that nobody commented about the medical care changes. This was mentioned today while I was in the car with my father on MPR news. "Families with health insurance will pay no income on payroll tax -- or payroll taxes on $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $7,500 of their income. With this reform, more than 100 million men, women, and children who are now covered by employer-provided insurance will benefit from lower tax bills." I found that topic extremely interesting. I think it was a very good idea.
I am agreeing with Rita on the whole Iraq situation, but we are not always going to have a plan. With the Border control topic, i am not sure if I agree with Bush on that one. I am not sure if that will stop the sneaking across the border.
Michaels comment, like all of his comments, is amazing. And i probably agree with all of his issues addressed.
I am still wondering why he decided to talk about 9/11 and not Florida. Both were very devastating.
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