Obama’s State of the Union Speech 2011

by Gordon Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, February 3, 2011

Due to my work schedule, I was unable to watch the live broadcast of President Obama’s State of the Union Address. I did get home in time to watch the re-broadcast at midnight. Before I fell asleep (his monotone voice and pause-heavy diction is a great sedative!) I heard some very interesting and surprising things. I heard him – who had apologized for America’s “arrogance” while before foreign audiences and who had stated that America had no greater claim to being exceptional than did Germany or Japan – say over and over again that we Americans were in fact an exceptional people. He said that we were unique because our nation was founded upon a dream. He even went as far as to say the following:

“America still has the largest, most prosperous economy in the world. No workers — no workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We're the home to the world's best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any place on Earth.”

I was feeling like I was reliving a Reagan moment. I slipped into peaceful sleep and dreamed sweet dreams of waking to a new world with a re-born Obama. I dreamt of a world in which our president realized that oppressive taxation, stifling bureaucracy, unrestrained spending and repressive regulations were failed policies of the past, and the election of 2010 had brought to him an epiphany of what the people of America truly wanted from their federal government.

Ah, but then I awoke Wednesday morning and with a few clicks of my mouse I found and downloaded the full transcript of his speech. No new dawn, no new Obama, no repudiation of failed liberal ideals did I find. Instead I found a rehearsal of the same old tired rhetoric.

I read one paragraph where he said we will “win the future” if we “out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world”. He added in the next paragraph that “we have to make America the best place to do business” and “we need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our government” and I was feeling pretty good.

But then I read in the later paragraphs that his idea of “innovation” really comes down to “imitation”. Imitation of South Korea’s educational philosophy (where teachers are called “nation builders”) was recommended. Imitation of China’s high-speed trains was recommended. And, surprisingly, imitation of enterprising private American companies was also recommended; but then that recommendation was later qualified with a small disclaimer. He just couldn’t let go of the liberal idea that innovation cannot survive without the federal government. Consider the following quote:

“Our free enterprise system is what drives innovation. But because it's not always profitable for companies to invest in basic research, throughout our history, our government has provided cutting-edge scientists and inventors with the support that they need. That's what planted the seeds for the Internet. That's what helped make possible things like computer chips and GPS.”

I wish it were true. I wish our government “provided support” for scientists and inventors today. But I believe the current administration is intent upon squelching scientists and inventors by bowing to the powerful trial lawyers and regulatory agencies (staffed by public-sector union lobbyists) which work together to inhibit innovation.

Obama spent a great deal of time discussing the need to “out-educate” the rest of the world by reforming our schools. Many of his points I found myself agreeing with. For example, he mentioned the need for involved parents. I agree, parents are a crucial resource that too many schools overlook or actively shut out from the educational process. He also mentioned that state governors are a vital force for reform of our educational system. I agree, however, I doubt Obama really means to allow at least one of the new ideas fostered by some of our state governors because their idea runs counter to the policies of the national teachers unions.

That idea is to promote competition and choice. Wherever we see true competition and choice, we see innovation and increased quality for lower prices. That is why we drive higher quality cars that cost a lower percentage of our income today, that is why every home in America can afford microwave ovens, two or more TV’s, cheaper cell phones, etc. etc. The same environment of competition and choice could produce better schools and higher quality teachers.

Several governors understand this and if Obama is interested in “out-educating” the rest of the world, he should follow the lead of Rick Scott in Florida, John Kasich in Ohio, Mitch Daniels in Indiana, Tom Corbitt in Pennsylvania and Chris Christie in New Jersey who have all proposed new policies to increase school choice by the use of vouchers and funding to promote private, parochial, charter, virtual and even home schools. These governors realize that jobs flow to educated populations.

“We go where the smart people are” – is the way the CEO of Intel Corp. put it in a recent interview.

To conclude, we are exceptional. We are innovative. We just need a government that will allow us to prove it to the rest of the world.