Post-SOTUA Column

President Obama supported all of the issues I felt were important in my predictions of his State of the Union Address, but he completely surpassed my expectations in his delivery of the message.

Obama made his speech accessible to the general public, keeping average citizens informed, a skill that I greatly admire in a leader. The issues matter to common people, as long as they can understand them.

As I predicted, he talked about the economy, about employment rates, a living wage and equal pay for equal work. It is sad that these are all issues he has spoke on in past State of the Union addresses and they are still a problem, but at least he isn’t letting them fade into the background.

He also spoke extensively about education, which I didn’t predict, but was thrilled to hear. I was pleased to hear that graduation rates are way up and that he has some ideas to deal with the overwhelming burden on college graduates that is student loan debt.

He indirectly addressed the Affordable Care Act throughout the speech, but surprisingly never directly discussed its affects. He may have taken this approach because of the controversy the act has generated since he introduced it.

Another issue he mentioned indirectly was the cyber attack on Sony Pictures, he alluded to the need for better cyber security without mentioning the actual incident, but he wasn’t specific on what action was being taken against cyber attacks or when that was going to happen.

He also commented on the end of the war in Afghanistan, and seemed to indicate that it was progressing as he intended it to. He said fewer than 15,000 troops remain and that our combat mission there is over. These facts indicate that we are on track for complete withdrawal.

Immigration also came up throughout the speech, but he didn’t take exactly the stance I had predicted. He said “We can’t…refight past battles on immigration when we’ve got a system to fix,” which sounds like immigration isn’t at the top of his priority list in relation to other things. However, I can see what he meant by the entire comment: immigration is important, but he doesn’t want to keep debating it when there are more salient issues.

He talked about issues that affect common citizens, like employment rates, minimum wage increases, childcare and taxes. It is important that he talk to the people who are being affected, and Obama excelled in that task. He translated the national budget into tangible things that people in this country can understand and relate to—a home, a car, a retirement fund.

He addressed the harsh reality many families face of having to pay just as much in childcare or more than they make in a single paycheck and how that adversely affects single parents who have to work and who don’t have anyone to stay home with their children. If we live in a country where the paychecks of single parents are being filtered right back into the childcare that they need so they are able to work, families are never going to be able to escape poverty.

Obama’s focus on women’s and family issues in his speech appealed to me, as a listener with very little knowledge of politics, I could understand what he was saying and what it meant for me as a citizen. That is the mark of an accomplished task when even listeners without political knowledge can comprehend how they will be affected by policy in the year to come.