70 minutes and 7,000 words later, President Obama gave a centered-left address to the Republican-controlled Congress. He urged them to get up off their behinds and take action like they were sent to Washington to do.
The State of the Union address was a speech long overdue, as many people would argue. In this speech, the President asked Congress to take action on several issues, but mainly on four major issues: increasing the number of college graduates, increasing minimum wage, capping student loans, and emphasizing climate change and clean energy. Lastly, he urged not only Congress but also the American people to “thank all veterans and our military.”
President Obama was very direct when he told Congress that he wasn’t going to wait around doing nothing about minimum wage. In fact he went on to say he was going to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour. Issuing the executive order is going to be key, in letting Republicans know that Democrats are determined to make this the issue of 2014.
If this is really going to be a “year of action” the only way to make it happen is through Presidential Executive Orders. “Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do,” said Obama.
When the President started talking about student loans in his speech he got a lot of praise from a great deal of Americans. “We’re offering millions the opportunity to cap their monthly student loan payments to 10 percent of their income, and I want to work with Congress to see how we can help even more Americans who feel trapped by student loan debt.” Obama said.
To me personally, I believe we now are going to get the opportunity to see the man we elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. He is going to do the job he was elected to do without being bullied around by Republicans and Tea Party members.
This will not be an easy year for the Democrats and President but it is the right time to bring action and change to Washington. Somebody once said, “If it were easy, everybody would do it.” So the road will not be easy, but for change to come about in Washington it has to be a hard fought battle. A hard battle it will be. Besides with the election season kicking into full gear, the Democrats might be able to change Washington without any nonsense.
