Hot Topics: The State of Union Address by the President

On January 25, 2011 President Barack Obama give a hour speech on his plans for the year of 2011.  These are some of the things he touched upon:

1. Health Care Bill- When President Obama talked about health care and ways to improve it, he said he is willing to consider medical malpractice reform to drive down health care cost to the government in return.  And according to the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation, if President Obama does follow through on this statement in about 10 years the federal government could save $41 billion in health care cost.
2. Tax-cuts- The president also said that he plans to end the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% Americans once the latest extension ends two years.  For those of you who don't know what the Bush-era tax cuts is, it is when President Geogre W. Bush lowered the tax cut that the wealthy had to pay from 36% to 35%.  And he did this because when Democratic President Bill Clinton was in office he said he wanted the wealthy Americans to make a sacrifice and increase their tax cuts to 2% when the actual top rate was 31%.
3. Electric Vehicles- The president touched upon how he wanted to have nearly 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.  President Obama probably said this because he talked about how he wanted to eliminate the billions of tax breaks for oil companies.  And with these tax breaks for the oil companies this could bring in more than $36 billion over the next decade.   
4. No Child Left Behind- President Obama also said he wanted to replace the No Child Left Behind with a new form of education reform.  No Child Left Behind was a reform passed by Geogre W. Bush which made states develop certain assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades to improve individual outcomes in education.
5. Troops in Iran and Afghanistan- Finally the president talked about how the war was going over in Iran and Afghanistan.  And he also said that hopefully in the next few months he would start bringing home our troops.


How This Relates To Class:
  This topic relates to class in one major way and that is the beliefs of liberals and conservatives.  When the president, who is a liberal, talked about taxes and health care sometimes the conservatives or Republicans didn't stand up and clap because they didn't really agree with those ideas.  But when the president talked about our troops coming home and the electric vehicles everyone got up and clapped because that was something they all could agree on.  What I'm basically saying is, like we learned earlier in the school year Republicans have kind of strict views, while liberals are more open to ideas when it comes to serving everyone in America.

Should Politics Have Quotas That Need To Be Met?

(John Kasich recently told the newspaper that he didn't believe in quotas when it came to politics.)


Well I'm pretty sure we have all heard of Ohio's Republican Governor John Kasich.  And what he is being accused of.  But for those of you who don't, it isn't a good thing.  John Kasich is Ohio's new governor who took Ted Stricklands place.  And because we have a new governor, he needs to make up a new cabinet, which means choosing the best people that fit the bill for the job.  But as he was choosing, people started to notice that all of the people in his cabinet were white.  Which means that he had no diversity in his cabinet.  And some people think that he should have a more diverse cabinet, with Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, and other people of different nationalities.  People have also labeled Gov. Kasich as a racist, but people of his cabinet have jumped to his defense in saying that he has reached out to some people of different nationalities, but they have all turned him down. 

Which is kind of hard to believe since times are really hard right now and everyone needs a job.  And since this is the first time in many, many years that there is an all white cabinet in politics people are beginning to think that there should be a quota that everyone must meet.  And to add insult to injury John Kasich also signed a resolution marking the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day -- instead of Jan. 17, the correct date.

 
(This John Kasich.)


( This is Governor John Kasich's cabinet members.)

How Does This Relate To Class:
    The story relates to what we learned in class two ways.  One: At the beginning of the year we talked about racism and how whites would keep blacks out of political offices.  Two: We also talked about Affirmative Action.  And Affirmative Action is a program that is designed to help people of minority get a step ahead in life by creating quotas and certain standards, that people must follow and people are saying should Affirmative Action be taken into consideration in this circumstance.  Now do I agree with John Kasich and how he picked his cabinet members, no, but if these people are really qualified then he should let them stay, because if he kicks some of them to make room for people of minority then that would be reverse discrimation, which isn't a good thing either.