1-30-10 "Recovering from State of the Union: Step one: print up target symbol. Step two: tape to wall. Step three: bang forehead on target until migrane goes away."

     Last week, President Obama gave his State of the Union Address. During this, we watched Nancy Pelosi lead the audience in an aerobic exercise as Obama spoke by sitting down and standing up and over and over again. Obama gave a very long and eloquent speech- I don’t even think he had any notes. In said speech, he identified some very real problems, such as the fact that America has become a nation of consumers instead of producers, and brought up a nonexistent problem, Global Warming (I thought Washington had finally figured out that it’s not a crisis?). He has some great ideas, too- the only problem is that many of these ideas are completely quixotic. They sound great, but can they work? The health care reform bill is a good idea, really it is. Medical care is very expensive, and it’s hard to pay the bills. Trust me, I understand that completely! It’s a great idea to help people out. However, government-funded health care won’t work for the nation’s benefit. There will be some people who benefit, but in the end, it will turn into more taxes for everyone else and just be another thing that the government has it’s nose in. It will be like welfare - good idea, but completely disastrous!

     I’m not going to go into political issues too much, but I just wanted to say that Obama is a very good speaker (I must say I have to be impressed with a person who can talk for 80 minutes straight without notes!) and very eloquent. But in order for you to be a good, informed citizen, please, please listen to what the meaning of the words are, not just how nice and eloquent they sound. Often, I find that a lovely sounding bit of our president’s speeches really don’t mean anything at all! Listen, and analyze. Don’t just hear.

     Please leave a comment about YOUR opinion on obama's speech.