2012 State of the Union — My Reactions to Some of the Events of Last Evening

Last evening President Barack Obama delivered the third State of the Union address of his presidency.  As I do every year, I watched the entire speech.  Kaleb got to stay up later than usual, because I didn't want to miss any of it.

I think that it's important to watch, if at all possible, any time the President addresses the nation.  And I don't think that it is any less important if the speech is being delivered by a President you may not be particularly fond of.  When George W. Bush was in office, I watched his SOTU address every year and, while he never said much of anything I agreed with,—and certainly never spoke eloquently on any subject during his term in office—I still was always glad to have taken the chance to hear what the country's leader had to say.

I can honestly say that I do not regret having voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election, and unless some miracle candidate comes on the scene between now and the 2012 election, I will be voting for him again this coming November.  In 2008 I was excited to be voting for someone with such innovative ideas and grand plans for making positive changes in the country.  I knew that the office of the President was one endowed with only very limited power to affect change, but a Democratic President coupled with a Democratic-majority Congress gave me hope that things really could get better, and I had a renewed faith in the U.S. system of government.

In his first year or so in office, Obama was able to work with a mostly-friendly Congress to begin making some of those changes.  Then, in 2010, enough Democratic Congressmen lost their Congressional seats to Republicans, giving the Republicans the majority control of Congress.  And overnight, the progress being made came to a screeching halt.  Congressional work spiraled downward into a quagmire of mud-slinging and party bickering; too many Congressmen stopped thinking rationally and began voting strictly along party lines, even on issues that many from both parties actually would have agreed upon; the ensuing governmental standstill brought an abrupt end to my tentative hopes for positive change.

I listen to people spend lots of time blaming the President for all the country's woes.  However, just as he doesn't deserve the bulk of the credit for the improvements that have been made, he also doesn't deserve the bulk of the blame for the problems that have developed or have remained ongoing.  This President's political powers, as with the powers of his predecessors, are held in check by the legislative and judicial branches of government.  And when it comes to the creating and enacting of new laws, the weight falls upon the legislators in the houses of Congress.  So, even though Obama may have put his support behind bills you did not support, or may have failed to put his support behind bills you did support, I submit to you that it is neither fair nor rational to place the full blame for the country's problems upon the shoulders of this one man.

While I openly admit that I have been largely disappointed by the lack of significant improvements to the country's situation—economic and otherwise—during Obama's term in office thus far, I also recognize his Constitutionally-imposed limitations (created by a 3-branch system of checks and balances) and know that the fault is only partly his and is shared, in large part, by an argumentative and ineffective Congress.  With a Congress containing legislators who automatically reject every idea proposed by members of the "other" party, simply out of principle and without even attempting to find common ground and make compromises, it's a wonder to me that our government has even managed to avoid degrading into utter anarchy.

However none of the personal views I have put forth in this post so far are views which I have not previously shared openly.  I tend to be rather outspoken about my political opinions, and so I doubt I have said anything here, yet, which my friends or closer acquaintances would find shocking or surprising.  Nor are they the primary reason I decided to write this post.

Rather, I decided to write this post to express my immense disappointment with the lackadaisical and apathetic disinterest with which so many of my peers regarded the President's speech.

I understand that not everyone is as "into" politics as I am, just as I am not as politically-involved as many of my peers.  However, as adults in an age group with ever-growing political power, we also need to step up and take upon ourselves some political responsibilities.  Within a generation, people of my peer-age group will be a growing population in all levels of this nation's political landscape.  Sadly, it's not uncommon for me to find my self let down by my peers' apathetical and uninvolved treatment of political matters.  On the other hand, it is much more rare for me to be similarly frustrated by people whom I specifically count among my friends.

But last night, this rare circumstance of disappointment in numerous friends presented itself.

Even before the scheduled start time for the President's address, several of my friends had made posts online making light of their intention to categorically avoid watching.  Some of their "jokes" were simply not funny; others were downright tasteless; two were even blatantly offensive.  By the mid-point of the televised event, the numbers of posts were growing, with maddening numbers of people whining or complaining that the nearly universally-broadcast news event was cutting into "their" shows: Celebrity Wife Swap, NCIS: Los Angeles, American Idol.

I was floored to realize that these friends of mine, people who I consider to be intelligent and responsible citizens, were more interested in watching bad American Idol auditions than a once-a-year Presidential address.

And each and every one of them was someone who is a self-identified conservative, someone who will vote for "anyone but Obama" in November.

Let me be clear: I absolutely do not mind that the majority of my friends hold vastly different political beliefs from my own.  In fact, some of my friends with the most-different opinions are the ones with whom I am able to have the most intelligent and open-minded discourses on political topics.  And those friends were all watching the SOTU last night as intently as I.  Those friends are not the ones with whom I am most disappointed.

In reality, the friends who have inspired this post will likely never read it.  And the two now-former friends who posted the offensive comments about the POTUS last night—both of which contained an always-unnecessary "n" word—have already been summarily un-friended, as I have no place in my life for people whose minds work in such a way as to make that type of word a useful part of their daily vocabulary.  I know better than to raise my hopes to believe that this post will change the minds of the politically-disinterested.

But if that term—"politically disinterested"— does apply to you, consider what's at stake.

Over the next 20 years, people in my age group will become the backbone of American politics.  Surely, anyone with even limited political knowledge understands that you should be informed before casting a vote; and to be informed, you must first care enough to seek out the information.  Caring is the first step.  And it is a step no one can take on your behalf.  A person who refrains from taking part in electing those who lead and govern our cities, counties, states, and the nation at large is a person who makes no investment in the well-being of their own future within this country.

=========================================================================

In case you're interested in hearing what President Obama had to say during his State of the Union Address last night (or in case you missed it or would like to hear it again), below is a video of the entire speech, as recorded by PBS Newshour.  To read a full text transcript of the speech, ►CLICK HERE◄.