Editorial: Obama’s speech an attempt to sell his policies, politics

‘ ‘ ‘ In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama outlined his… ‘ ‘ ‘ In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama outlined his economic recovery plan, defended the goals of the stimulus package and his upcoming budget proposal and also got a few shots in at the policies of former President George W. Bush for good measure. ‘ ‘ ‘ Obama eschewed his typical flowery rhetoric for a forceful, to-the-point speech that firmly outlined some of his goals and promises, including saving or creating 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, creating education grants for every American citizen to pursue post-high school education and seeking a cure for cancer. ‘ ‘ ‘ Some of his promises might have’ been a little far-fetched ‘mdash; Obama promised that by 2020 the United States would have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world, while right now it only ranks 16th in terms of enrollees who complete college, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. But overall, his speech was grounded in his plan to quickly pull the nation out of economic collapse. ‘ ‘ ‘ The thing that stood out the most about Obama’s speech was the tenuous connection he drew between energy independence, health care, education and the current state of the economy. While the stimulus package and his budget plan seem concerned with immediate stability, a large portion of the address was dedicated to long-range planning of the kind that was so prevalent on the stump circuit. ‘ ‘ ‘ There is a connection between these elements, but even Obama admitted during his speech that some of his goals would have to wait while the economy recovers. One might think that curing cancer would be one of those long-range goals that could be restructured for a later time, but research and technology funding is a central part of Obama’s health care stimulus. ‘ ‘ ‘ And Obama didn’t miss the opportunity to get in a few jabs at his opposition as well ‘mdash; from accusing Bush’s presidency of saddling the current generation with a huge amount of debt to saying that the true costs of the Iraq war would be known ‘for the first time’ within his budget. ‘ ‘ ‘ For a president so committed to bipartisanship and across-the-aisle cooperation, we have to wonder if this sort of needling was really necessary during his first joint-session address. It seems like it might have been better to avoid finger-pointing in order to build support for his policies, but obviously that wasn’t the tactic he chose. ‘ ‘ ‘ Only time will tell which parts of this speech become reality, but it’s safe to say that some of it was there for no other reason than to make his programs sound more attractive. In many ways, Obama was making a sales pitch for his policies, and at least half of those in attendance ‘mdash; the Democratic half ‘mdash; bought them wholesale. ‘ ‘ ‘ Overall, Obama’s speech was pure politics ‘mdash; a defense of his own policies and ideals, a plea for understanding and cooperation from regular citizens and members of the legislature and a little bit of hopeful promises to soften the blow of all the hard news. We wouldn’t expect anything less, though, and especially not from a new president engaged in some of the riskiest political maneuvers of our time.