Obama reports on state of the Union’

Students respond to State of the Union’s topics including economy, spending

Nick Tran’

News Editor’

Today, Barack Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address, one year since his inauguration as President. The most anticipated point of the Address will be the economy, which 51 percent of Americans believe Obama has paid too little attention to, according to a Wall Street Journal poll.’

The annual Address has traditionally been an opportunity for the President to report the condition of the nation and also declare his motives and priorities for his coming years in office. The Address will be given at 6 p.m. before a joint session of the United States Congress.’

Obama is expected to present his proposal to reduce the national deficit, which recently exceeded $12 trillion. Obama’s solution, a freeze in all non-security related domestic spending, has been much debated in the days leading up to the Address.’

The freeze is estimated to lock up a total of $447 billion over 10 years, 17 percent of expected federal spending, but should save the government $250 billion by the end of the set period, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.’

The Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security, however, will be exempted from the spending freeze.’

‘We are at war, and we are going to make sure that our troops are funded at an adequate level while those wars are ongoing,’ a White House official was reported to have said.’

‘ Travis Kolczynski, a freshman in nuclear engineering, said the freeze will likely do nothing to help with the national deficit and the economy.’

‘It probably won’t [help] because we spend a lot on defense and it’s always over-budget anyway,’ he said.’

Kolczynski said there are many other issues he should be worried about, as the state of the union is pretty disorganized.’

‘Ford’s doing a little better but healthcare is still in the air and unemployment still sucks,’ Kolczynski said. ‘Frankly I’m tired of all the politics.’

Sherrie Smith, a freshman in biochemistry, said the nation still has a ways to go before economic recovery and the freeze is the wrong way to go about it.’

‘The [Union]’s not the worst it’s been, but it’s certainly not great,’ Smith said. ‘I really don’t think the spending freeze sounds like a great idea. I think we need a better plan to help the economy.’

Other students also have doubts about Obama’s direction with the economy.’

Mac Scott, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, said the freeze goes against other efforts Obama has been trying to implement.’

‘It’s hypocritical seeing as he’s still trying to push healthcare,’ he said. ‘Obama should actually be spending more domestically and cutting international and military spending. He’s probably cutting spending because he thinks he’ll need it for one of his future plans.’

Scott said he wants to hear Obama talk more about healthcare and how he’s going to help the nation, as there is a lot of work left to be done domestically.’

‘I want him to talk about the healthcare reform and I’m curious to see if he’ll actually go through with it or let it get shot down,’ Scott said. ‘I especially want to know how healthcare reform will help people our age, seeing as we’ll be paying into it but won’t really be drawing any of the money for ourselves.’ ‘

Michael Cobb, an associate professor of political science, said polling data shows jobs and the economy are the most important to America, but Obama is going about it wrong.’

‘It’s politically incorrect for [Obama] to do this. If they do away with domestic spending, there’s little way to grow jobs and help the economy,’ Cobb said. ‘Government spending is needed as an investment which will be rewarded.’

According to Cobb, Obama’s support of the freeze could be a misunderstanding of the Republican senate victory in Massachusetts. Democrats believe they are losing votes instead of admitting the Republicans just had a stronger campaign.’

Cobb said Obama believes this conservative move will win the Republican vote, but it won’t and will instead depress his Democrat base.’

‘He should be focused on domestic problems like the domestic job market and economy instead of issues abroad like the war in Afghanistan,’ Cobb said.’

Thomas Lawler, a sophomore in business and political science, however, said he supported Obama’s legislation while also admitting the Union was in bad shape.’

‘Like most Americans I think we’re moving in the wrong direction,’ he said. ‘We need to control spending and I support the freeze because it’ll eliminate a lot of wasteful spending.’

According to Lawler, spending by Defense and Homeland Security is still necessary to keep the nation running and safe.

‘Since the economic stimulus package didn’t do anything to help the economy, a cut in spending is what we need to help with the deficit,’ Lawler said. ‘Besides it’s not the government’s responsibility to put money into the economy.’