January 24, 2012- The State of the Union address, lasting one hour and five minutes was Obama’s detailed “blueprint for an economy that’s built to last.” The speech was jam packed with information and plans to better education and bring more jobs back home. The speech had an uplifting tone. This is not surprising considering that President Obama will be running for re- election later this year.

The common thread of the speech was an appeal to congress to act more like the military. To come together for a common good, that of the American people. This argument was brilliant because it idolized a part of government (the military) that is never refuted. Members of the military and veterans are looked at with admiration and reverence by the majority of Americans, so by saying that “those of us who have been sent here to serve can learn from the service of our troops… When you’re in the thick of the fight you rise and fall as one nation, leaving no one behind.” makes an extremely strong argument in favor of changing the trend of congress refusing to cooperate between parties.

Within this theme, was his appeal to work together to improve education. These remarks made about education are perhaps the most important to the educators and students at City High. A simple proposal was made to require students to continue their education until the age of eighteen. Obama pointed that “when students aren’t aloud to walk away from their education more of them walk the stage to get their diplomas.” This logic seems obvious, however currently students are only required to stay in school until they are sixteen. Obama also shared a strong stance on teachers, suggesting another seemingly obvious proposal to reward teachers who teach with “creativity and passion” and to get rid of the ones “who just aren’t helping kids learn.” He also points out that giving teachers this flexibility will allow them to “stop teaching to the test.” I can’t help but wonder what this would mean for City High. While I agree that teachers shouldn’t be evaluated by standardized test results and either should students, Obama never mentioned what the alternative would be to the current standard. How will anyone know and be able to prove which teachers are educating students and which are not? Until the Obama administration, congress or an outside party comes up with this solution, I can only see his proposal as an empty promise.

Yet another emphasized point in the speech was the Obama administration’s superiority to previous administration, especially the Bush administration. He noted that “my administration has put more boots on the border then ever before.” he also pointed out that the administration didn’t give up on America’s auto industry at the beginning of his presidency, citing that General Motors is once again the world’s number one automaker.

Following the State of the Union Address, Senator Mitch Daniels of Indiana gave the Republican response. While he had some valid points, agreeing with Obama, and perhaps making a more pointed case, that the wealthy should not get any tax pardons or deductions. He also made some statements that I questioned. For example, he said, “nearly half of all persons under thirty did not go to work today.” At first glance this is shocking, however when you take into consideration that more then half of all persons under thirty are not of working and age or are getting an education, it’s not so astonishing and possibly a little deceiving. The speech was also full of extreme descriptions, primarily of the fate of America under the Obama administration. He described Obama’s policies as “pro poverty” and a “grand experiment.”

Overall, both Obama and Senator Daniels left an impression with their address. It would seem that while both advocated for their parties and clearly had the election season in mind, they had very different strategies. Daniels strategy could be defined as instilling fear into the minds of Americans, while Obama primarily attempted to make promises and guilt congress into working together. Whether or not all the promises will be met probably depends on if that guilt trip worked. Obama was right about one thing, “our journey moves forward.” However, what future we move towards will have to wait to be determined in the November election.